Career development stories from staff

At GOSH we are committed to developing our talented teams, and encourage individuals to try new roles and learn new specialisms to continually develop their skill setWe asked some of our staff to share experiences of how their career has developed during their time at GOSH, and the support they received as part of this.

I have been working at GOSH for just over five years. I started as a domestic on the ward. This was a very important job and I learnt a lot about infection control. I then went on to become a Housekeeper and then a Healthcare Support Worker. All these roles helped to prepare me to become a trainee Nursing Associate. A nursing associate is a new member of the nursing team who will provide care and support for patients and their families. I qualified in April 2019.

I have always wanted to learn and develop. I am not ashamed to say ‘I don’t know’. I always strive to do better and do my job to the best of my ability. I find my colleagues very contagious - people who work hard and do their best. This motivates me.

I had a lot of support from my management team because they believed in me. In my personal development meetings, they asked me what I would like to do next and helped me create a short term, medium term and long-term plan. They have always motivated me to talk about my development. Also, my colleagues support me. I get on well with others, so I have help from everywhere.

I am waiting for the next part of my training in September 2020, this will be new top up training. I have got a foundation degree in children’s nursing, but I want to have a full degree, so I need to go back to university. I have also just finished academic writing training. I'm trying to maximise my chances of developing further all the time.

I arrived as a band 6 clinical scientist in haematology, with a mandate to develop new scientific clinical testing for bone marrow transplant and gene therapy patients at GOSH. I progressed to band 7 Clinical Scientist and established the novel testing as routine work in the labs, training and managing staff. I progressed to being Principal Clinical Scientist in a section of the Specialist Integrated Haematology and Molecular Diagnostic Service at GOSH, as well as being the Trust’s joint Lead Healthcare Scientist. I also have an academic role as Senior Honorary Lecturer with UCL.

The urge to keep pushing scientific development forwards, to ensure we support the clinical teams and, more importantly, to ensure patients receive the best and most cutting-edge service available. I also like to be in control of driving positive changes. And I do like being a leader rather than being led!

Good colleagues and supportive management.

Seeing the constantly improving treatments available for patients. It is really important to see that scientific progress has clear tangible benefits for children at GOSH.

I’ve worked in several departments around the hospital. I stared in PICU but have undertaken a total of six secondments within my 20 years at GOSH. I’ve been seconded into the community to help establish services there, to CATS, NICU, and to the role of matron within the PICU. I gained a lot from that secondment and was keen to develop my leadership and management skills further, so undertook another secondment to be the matron for Barrie and then as a lead nurse for Workforce.

I then became Head of Nursing and Patient experience for Brain, a permanent role and one I love.

I enjoy challenging myself, stepping out of my comfort zone and seeing things from another perspective. I’m always striving for excellence.

I’ve always had good line managers who have supported my secondments. And my colleagues supported me and helped me to develop and realise the skill set I had developed. The people in the areas I was seconded into always recognised the prior knowledge and skills that I brought with me, which helped me develop further.

There is always the opportunity to move around the Trust and try new experiences. Clinical expertise never ends; even if you’re an expert in one area this doesn’t mean you can’t move areas and become an expert with a whole new set of skills.

I’ve worked in Surgery as PA to the Lead Nurse, General Managers and Clinical Unit Chair. I remained in Surgery and was up-banded to Senior Administrator, which included line management, ensuring coding accuracy and validation of procedures, as well as PA.  When a restructure took place, I worked for the Clinical Director of Operations and Director of Operations for JM Barrie Division, continuing to line manage staff. I then moved into a learning and development management role.

I wanted to learn something new and develop my skills. I was attracted to the strategic work, which is less reactive, and the opportunity to use my experience to make improvements in a different team.

When I came to Learning & Development it was a side-step rather than a progression, but with the view to learn something new.  I value being given opportunities to learn new things and work for different people.

I have always worked in the Blood, Cells & Cancer division. Ever since I graduated as a nurse in 2014 I have worked with children with cancer because I love the close relationships you build with the families. I am currently on secondment as E-Rostering & Safe Care Clinical Nurse Lead in the Workforce team.

I love being a nurse however I have always found it hard to accept that once I qualified as a nurse and went into such a complex specialty then that would be “it” for my career. So I was interested in what other opportunities were out there.

Also, after four and a half years I was feeling burnt out and it was taking its toll on my mental health. I sought support to help me manage my health and my manager was very supportive.

When I saw a secondment in HR & OD, I felt it was the right time to try something different and that it would be a good stepping stone to grow and develop as a person.

I’ve really appreciated the support I’ve had. I have never felt like I can’t ask a question or ask for help. I felt particularly supported by my previous manager who valued me and wanted me to stay at GOSH so helped me take a different career direction.

Nothing is set in stone. Find opportunities, push boundaries and make that jump, otherwise you’ll never know what you can achieve!

I work in the Pharmacy department as the Principal Pharmacist for clinical trials and audit. Meanwhile, I have always wanted to be involved in research and to carry out my own research. Although I manage the pharmacy aspect trials as my day to day job, carrying out my own research is not in my job description due to the demands of the job. One of the activities that I did in my own time was that I worked very hard to secure an NIHR fellowship to do a PhD.

Feedback has been a very valuable tool for my career development. It was also very helpful that my manager supported me and values staff pursuing new career development opportunities.

At GOSH we are surrounded by opportunities at our doorstep and the links with ICH make these opportunities even greater. For example, attending useful and interesting seminars can take place during our lunch break, which is not possible at many other NHS institutions.