Nick Kirby
Age: 24
Job Title: NHS Management Trainee
Lives In: South Woodford (NE London)
Place of Work: NE London SHA – Commercial Rd. E1
Educational Background: 4 A-Levels; BA Economics; MSc European Political Economy; MSc Healthcare Mgt (currently studying for)
Date of This Interview: 8th May 2006
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Nick Kirby joined North East London NHS as part of the Graduate Management Training Scheme in 2004, having completed his academic studies earning a BSc in Economics and MSc in European Political Economyics.
There are three strands to the scheme: Finance, HR and General Management – he tells me he chose the General Management strand as it will give him a broad understanding of the organisation and the practices within it. As part of the programme you do two main placements in different parts of the organisation, as well as studying for an MSc in Healthcare Management and Leadership across the two years.
Variety
“My two roles have been quite different. First of all I was working as an Assistanta Services Manager at Whipps Cross Hospital, alongside both clinicians and patients. Every day was different, dealing with situations as they arose and making decisions right from day one that had an effect on the way the hospital ran.”
You get the impression that Nick thrives on this, he is keen to talk about the challenges of the job and what he gets out of it through the experiences he has.
“During one day at Whipps Cross I was standing talking to one of my colleagues when we noticed a water leak;, there was water running from above us and dripping down onto the floor at the point where two buildings were joined, one of which was a temporary building. We had an expert come and look at the building and they declared the building unsfafe, which meant we had to close the building until a full inspection was carried out. Telling a group of medical consultants that they had to evacuate their offices and move to a new area was a big challenging decision to makeimplement, and had far reaching aeffectings on the staff and potentially patients as well.”
Responsibility
This responsibility from day one is a feature of the scheme whereby the theory of management is applied to real situations at every turn to ensure that by the end of the program participants are ready to stand alone in management roles.
The trainee scheme is also run in parallel with an MSc programme which participants study for throughout the 2 year period. By the time you graduate from the scheme you have an impressive CV by any standards, suitable for positions across the NHS and elsewhere.
“Many of my friends from University are doctors, lawyers or work in the city now and it is great to meet up with them and be able to offer insight into my work in the NHS which I think dispels many of the myths they have about working in the public sector.“
Nick’s academic CV is impressive, an A grade A-Level student, 2:1 Economics Degree and an MSc from the London School of Economics. He could undoubtedly have chosen to take a job in the city or study law as many of his peers did, but decided that the NHS and this graduate scheme was right for him. This speaks volumes for the quality of the scheme’s content, it’s structure and the high level of support each of the trainees get as they plot their career path.
“The money isn’t bad either and compares very well to the salaries offered by many private companies attracting graduate joiners.”
Values
However, Nick explained to me that there is another unique aspect that people looking to join the scheme should consider – the values of the NHS.
“In my experience, the oOne of the things that all of the graduate scheme members and the people that work throughout the organisation share is a belief thattheir belief in patient care and that by doing their job well they make contribute towards improving the quality of patient care.a difference to people every day.“
This belief is clearly evident and is perhaps why Nick plans to move into the acute side of the NHS when he graduates from the scheme.
“I enjoy the challenge of working with colleagues and patients to delivering hands on patient careservice improvement and improving enhanced efficiency in a way that helps others.”
Different Roles
Before that Nick will complete his current placement as private secretary to Carolyn Regan, NE London Strategic Health Authority Chief Executive, or if you like the Boss of the NHS in North East London.
This role is further away from direct patient care and involves helping shape the strategic decisions that are required to move the NHS forward and ensure money is allocated correctly acr5oss the London Boroughsperformance manage the 14 NHS organisations in the NE London sector.
“I have effectively been fortunate enough to have shadowed the Chief Executive, going to all sorts of meetings and discussions, which has given me incredible insight into the organisation at the highest level. I am often asked to prepare briefing documents which help her to make informed her decisions about such things as best practice in governing inter agency partnershipsthe forthcoming Olympics and how this will affect hospitals and primary care trusts in the area, through to how bus routes can be improved to allow people better access to NHS facilities.”
Nick described to me how recently he was asked to attend a mayoral question time held by Ken Livingstone. Attending on behalf of the health authority, his job was to hear questions and answers about NHS funding in London then deliver a report on this to help make the right financial decisions within brief people at the health authority on what issues were discussed.
“Another One of the most exciting things I have experienced is the opportunity to travel internationally as part of my MSc programmethe training scheme elective placement, which lasts three months. I chose to research pandemic viruses influenza and how the NHS would respond in case of emergency, for which I travelled to Hong Kong, where I worked with the teams who responded to the 2003 SARS crisis. This was part funded by the health authoritytraining scheme. where I worked with the teams who are responding to the SARS virus. It was fantastic to experience different ways of working, share best practices and pick up things we can really learn from the experiences of other countries.”
There is huge variety, challenge and career support for graduates who make it onto this exciting and well organised training scheme. Nick is a great ambassador for the NHS of the future and is articulate in describing the things he finds enjoyable about his job, of which there seem to be many.
With talented people like him around the NHS is an organisation which will undoubtedly get better and better – an organisation to be a part of.
To find out more about graduate training schemes with the NHS follow this link: http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk//nhs-knowledge_base/data/5625.html