Jenny Yao, General Manager
Ali Mohammed, Director of Human Resources
Dr Atif Ali, Clinical Program Director
Jon Ota, Assistant Director
Marcia McKnight, Director for Communications
Jenny Yao
General Manager - Cardiac & Renal Directorate, Barts and The London NHS Trust
From first becoming a nurse in China to my current role of General Manager at Barts and The London NHS Trust (BLT), I’ve led a full and varied career. I’ve been a manager in China, completed a two year training programme in Singapore, helped to set up a new Neurosurgery hospital in Shandong Province, China, led a market entry strategy project at PA Consulting, joined the NHS as the Assistant Director (Corporate Management) at the London Health Observatory (LHO) and led the Radiology Services Redesign project at St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust.
I joined BLT in December 2007. I am responsible for strategic and operational delivery of the services in Cardiac, Renal, Endocrinology, Diabetes, Vascular, Respiratory, Clinical Pharmacology, Urology, Gastroenterology, Colorectal, Hepatology, HPB and Upper GI.
My nursing experience means I’m passionate about improving quality of care and patient experience. I like to know I’m making a real contribution, and it helps that I find working in the NHS incredibly rewarding.
The programme is all about developing future leaders in the NHS, so it provides excellent development opportunities and supports people like me to develop further - gaining the confidence essential to grasping senior management roles. I can pinpoint exactly how the programme helped me: in developing leadership skills and qualities, in actively networking and getting to know more colleagues across the NHS, and in my ongoing career development.
I couldn’t recommend this programme highly enough and have already encouraged two BME service managers in my team to apply for the next programme and one of them has been selected for the programme 2008/09.
My aspiration is to work with a range of key stakeholders in health and social care, and to enable better health through better care for service users, and I’m on my way to achieving it.
Ali Mohammed
Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
Ali’s initial impressions of the programme, experienced in a week in Paris, weren’t as good as they could have been: “I had already been a director within the NHS for six years and I had never heard of the project and they had never heard of me.” Since that initial period, however, Ali’s view of the programme and his positive approach has enabled him to take a pivotal role in the growth and change of the programme, and has found countless ways to make it better. One of those things has been to raise awareness.
“Coming from an ethnic minority background myself, I look around at people I studied with, or family and friends, and think that they are perfectly capable, but have never considered working in the NHS. And that’s what this programme is about – creating role models for BME staff and changing perceptions of what the NHS can offer – especially at a senior level.”
And now that the programme is more focused, with more practical targets and success indicators, he’s looking forward to what they can accomplish in the future. He does note, however, that if people think this course will promote them, they’re wrong: “People need to think about what they’re trying to do… and have the ability within themselves. One of the things they will find though is that this programme will help to equip them with the political and networking skills they’ll need to get where they want to go.”
Dr Atif Ali
Clinical Program Director
Heywood Middleton and Rochdale PCT
“I finished medical school in 1997 and decided to move into management, so I joined a university in London to do a Masters in Business Administration and get a better understanding of management theories and practices. Armed with both medical and business management knowledge, I joined the NHS at management level in 2002 and since then I have worked for several NHS organisations, including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Workforce Development Confederation, Coronary Heart Disease Collaborative, an Acute Trust, Strategic Health Authority and a PCT.
In 2005, on the advice of my then line manager, I decided to apply for the Breaking Through programme. Having known very little about the program, I researched and also contacted several successful candidates from the previous cohort to gain a better understanding of the value the program had to offer. After attending a seminar in London and discussing it with John Bachelor I decided to join 2005 cohort.
I found the program very practical and to the point, it was composed of real life examples and realistic exercises that were useful. It showed me ways to transform myself from thinking like a manager to acting like a leader. Once I finished the core leadership program, I was fortunate to be offered to join the aspiring director’s module in March 2007, which truly helped me understand the role and requirements of a modern NHS director.
In December 2007 I was offered the post of ‘Clinical Program Director’ in the PCT which was a much bigger role than I previously had. Although a challenging yet exciting role, I strongly believe that the Breaking Through program gave me the confidence, understanding and know how to secure this role and I’m confident that it will offer similar opportunities of progression to future successful participants of the program.
Jon Ota
Assistant Director, Healthcare Management
Jon joined the NHS as a student nurse in 1989. Having worked in children’s homes, a care home and as a youth worker, he was keen to pursue a career that was focused on working with the most vulnerable.
His career progression since then has been impressive and diverse. Having nursed in an HIV hospice he has moved on to health promotion work (where he had his first taste of leadership) crime prevention, community healthcare and most recently Assistant Director within country’s first fully integrated Children’s Trust.
In 2006 Jon decided to apply for the Breaking Through programme. He’d heard good things about the programme, and thought it might provide him with the development he needed to prepare himself for a director post.
“I’d been on management programmes before, but found that Breaking Through focused less on management theories and models, and more on developing the skills we already had. It taught us about ourselves as leaders and how to approach challenges in a more positive way. I developed a greater understanding of my leadership style and how to use it more effectively. Most of all, the programme built up my confidence to believe I was ready to take the next step in my career”.
Within three months of completing the programme Jon was offered the Interim Director of Operations at Harrow PCT. “It’s going to be a massive challenge, but I know I’m up to it. I have no doubt that the Breaking Through programme has given me the edge to get the post, but also the tools to do the job really well.”
Marcia McKnight
Director for Communications
Marcia has joined the NHS on two separate occasions. The first time was back in 1984, when she worked as a student nurse at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire. But after four years, she left to pursue a career in the media and spent 10 years working in various newspaper and PR offices.
Marcia returned in 1999, when she became Media Relations Manager at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) NHS Trust. What made her come back to the NHS? “Having worked as a nurse for several years, I wanted to use my clinical experience to effectively represent the NHS to the media.” And that’s exactly what Marcia has done.
At UCLH, for example, she was part of the team that managed the award-winning BBC TV series Living with Cancer. As Head of Communications at North West London NHS Trust, she led on numerous projects including working with the local council, PCTs and voluntary sector, following the outcome of the Lord Laming Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie. And in her current role as Director of Communications at Barnet & Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust, Marcia is part of the team currently handling communications as part of the consultation on the reconfiguration of Health Services in Barnet, Enfield and Haringey.
Marcia has also taken part in the Breaking Through programme, which she decided to apply for after hearing a Chief Executive speak at the Breaking Through conference. “I’ve had very positive experiences. It’s a big personal challenge, and a steep learning curve, but it’s also of great benefit.” Her aim now is to reach Chief Executive level within the healthcare sector.
What’s been her greatest achievement in the NHS so far? “It’s not just about achievement, I love my job, I never know what is coming next. The issues I deal with and people I talk to are so vast and diverse. Of course there is a lot of media work, whether you’re writing positive stories about your Trust, talking a journalist out of writing a negative article or providing them with correct information for more neutral stories. I can hand on heart say no two days are the same.”