Richard Stubbs

Hi. My name is Richard Stubbs. I am currently Associate Director for Corporate Strategy at Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust.

When did you join the NHS?

I joined the NHS in 2002 initially on the Graduate Management Scheme. The NHS attracted me because it is an organization that gave me a chance to give something back to the community. I was working in the media at the time and I just felt that although I enjoyed the work you never really felt like you were delivering anything special for the population at large. The NHS gave me that challenge.

Describe your career so far.

So far I've been in the NHS six years and I started off working in primary care, doing a lot of work on commissioning services for the choice agenda. I then went off to work in a hospital where I led on a programme called Choose and Book which was about organising an online booking system for patients to use who had to book appointments at their GP practice. Since then I was in a head of business development job which was more in line with using the market opportunities that the NHS now has to really get some benefits as a hospital - so looking at developing our skills, developing our relationships with GPs and developing our services that we provide to patients.

What attracted you to the Breaking Through programme?

I was initially attracted to the Breaking Through because having done the graduate scheme previously I really saw the benefit and the value in having two years of very focused personal and professional development. It has really helped me to see where I wanted to get to and how I needed to get there in terms of my career progression. Breaking Through offers me that but at a much more intense and higher level.

What is your current role?

Presently I'm working as an Associate Director at a primary care trust in Derbyshire. My role is targeted on world class commissioning, which is one of the biggest agendas for primary care at the moment. Being part of the Breaking Through programme has allowed me to take this opportunity, which ordinarily wouldn't have been available to me at the level that I'm working at at the moment. It's a chance I suppose to be part of something major that's happening in the health service at the moment, and to have something on my CV so that when I look for substantive roles later, I've really got some credibility with the chief executives out there.

What is most rewarding about working in the NHS?

Working for the NHS is very special. The values that are part of the NHS I think are the fundamental reason why a lot of people choose not just to work but to stay in the NHS for a long period of time. It makes an enormous difference in the qualities in your own life, knowing the decisions you make either in primary care or in a hospital or in a strategic health authority, have a fundamental effect on the quality of life of your local population.

What do you get up to outside of work?

Outside of work I play and watch a lot of sport. I like to play a lot of football; I like to play a lot of golf. I support Sheffield Wednesday, which is not great for the soul, but it keeps me busy every other Saturday! I've also got a young family - I've got a wife and a small child and to be honest they keep me busier than I need to be.

What advice would you give to those people who are considering applying?

I think it's really vital that people who are considering the Breaking Through programme see it as a very positive influence on their career development. I've been on it now for four or five months, and I'm really seeing the benefit of how it's helping me to access the people I need to access, but also to look at myself individually and the kind of career development changes that I need to make to get to the places that I need to be. For me, Breaking Through isn't really about government statistics or government targets; it's really about taking people who already have that latent ability to do a job at a very high level to a very high standard, and just giving them the exposure that they need to be able to demonstrate that they've had the skills all along.

Neda

My name is Neda Hormozi and my job title is Associate Director Leadership Development for NHS IMAS.

When did you join the NHS?

I joined the NHS in September 2004, because there was a programme to make England smoke free. My role was working specifically in Hammersmith and Fulham with the stop smoking services - many people will have seen the adverts on the TV. The reason I joined the NHS was because I felt I wanted to contribute to something that makes a difference, and smoke free England was the biggest public health agenda in my lifetime.

Describe your career so far.

My first achievement was my PhD in Chemistry. Following that I spent a number of years in academia as a Scientific Researcher. My next achievement was getting out of academic research and moving into scientific publishing. I wanted to be with people and scientific research was quite excluding so I think that was my next achievement making the transition. I spent some time in the private sector in small and medium sized organizations and my biggest achievement was helping small to medium sized companies set up new projects to make them successful. Having set up a publishing department for a general publishing house in Germany, I then I moved into the NHS.

How will the Breaking Through programme help your career development?

Until now I've been “doing the doing” and the purpose of the Breaking Through programme is to skill me up with the right management skills, the executive board level experience and some of the personal development areas that were identified at the assessment centre (e.g. influencing skills). This all comes together so that in eighteen months time I will be able to apply and get an Executive Director post in the NHS.

What attracted you to the Breaking Through Programme?

Throughout my career I've made a number of sideway moves, sometimes very big sideway moves, but actually always sideways rather than upwards. When I joined the NHS I joined with a very clear intention of moving upwards so that I could pull my skills together and really contribute to one of the most amazing organisations in the world. The Breaking Through programme has provided me with the structure and the support so that over the course of the next eighteen months I can make that progression and seek to contribute at a level that I really feel I should.

What is your current role?

My role is to link in the NHS Institute with the NHS IMAS. In terms of the various talent pools that are being developed within the NHS and bringing these into working and contributing to the much bigger NHS.

What is most rewarding about working for the NHS?

That every single day that I go into work I come across at least one person who comes from a completely unique background, and that every single person I meet is in the NHS because they want to make a difference and because they care about people.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

In five years time I would like to be able to look back and say I've done two things. One is make that upward move myself so that I can contribute at the level that I would like to be able to. The second is as Kevin Spacey once said, “to know that I've sent a ladder back down”.

What do you get up to outside of work?

My friends say I make a wicked Iranian lamb, so I like cooking the things that I'm really good at cooking. I really like serving it to people I really care about so I cook three to four times a year but then I have parties maybe for three months running – that's my hobby.

How can Breaking Through help my career development?

It already has. Since leaving my last role in the NHS as Smoking Coordinator to begin my current role as Associate Director of Leadership Development, there has been a period of two months and in these two months I already feel taller and stronger. I'm not quite sure if I've delivered yet at a level I should be delivering but I guess that's why the programme is here to help me get there.

What advice would you give to those people who are considering applying?

Apply, apply apply - just do it! And call any of us to ask for help.

Sharon

My name is Sharon Gregory; I am the Divisional General Manager for Women and Child Health Services at Kingston Hospital.

When did you join the NHS?

I joined the NHS in 1993; I started my career with the Birmingham multi fund. The NHS attracted me because it's got a variety of opportunities, is an exciting place to work. I have no regrets.

Describe your career so far?

I have worked in various arenas in the NHS; the arenas include primary care, women and children services, and clinical support services which include managing theatres, anesthetics, ITU, medical records. There are many skills I've gained from working in these various arenas, such as budgetary management as I've managed budgets up to forty million pounds. The staffing within the various arenas has been anything up to five/six hundred people, so we're talking large scale management. In terms of my general skills, business management is an essential part of my role, as is developing business strategies to secure the future of our services over a period of time.

A fundamentally important part of all those roles has been managing staff. Without effective staff management you cannot get a good health service because at the end of the day it is the staff that you rely upon to deliver the best services for patients. One of my key roles as manager is being able to support the staff giving them the resources that they need to deliver their work in an effective way, which has a positive impact on the care of patients.

What attracted you to Breaking Through Programme?

The Breaking Through programme has been a really good vehicle for me to try and expand upon my existing skills and experiences. At the end of the day I want to try and secure myself a senior position within the NHS where I can influence the development of services. Breaking Through is a way to help me do just this.

What is your current role?

I am currently a General Manager in Women and Children's Services. However, through the Breaking Through scheme I've managed to secure myself an 18 month secondment as Director of Corporate Support. I'm excited by this opportunity because I get to sit on the board table with senior members of staff making key decisions that affect the future of the hospital and which also positively affect patient care for the future. I will be able to influence how services are shaped, I will be able to influence the strategic direction of the organization, and from my perspective I'm very appreciative to Breaking Through for supplying me with this opportunity.

What is most rewarding about working in the NHS?

The thing I find most rewarding working for the NHS is the variety of things that go on within the service. It's exciting to be part of a service which is trying to deliver the best possible care to patients. You meet a range of fantastically educated clinicians, who are very knowledgeable in their field, and it's great to work with dynamic people who want to push services forward.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

Within the next five years I see myself occupying a very senior role within the NHS. The most important thing for me is to be able to influence the improvement in services to patients.

How can Breaking Through help my career development?

I feel that the programme has helped my career development in that it's given me access to a network of mentors and coaches. I have 13 other like-minded ambitious individuals who have also managed to get on the programme along with me, and they are fantastic source of support.

What advice would you give to those people who are considering applying?

For individuals wanting to secure a place on the Breaking Through course, my key advice to you is to carefully prepare. The Breaking Through team put on a series of master classes. I would strongly suggest that you look into these master classes, find out your own development areas and to make the effort to attend the classes. You will be pleased to know that these classes will really help you when you come to sit your exams (dare I use that word!) so that you actually are successful in getting onto the scheme. The exams are challenging and I think you should make good use of everything that's made available to you.

Marcia

I'm Marcia McKnight and I'm the Director of Communications at Barnett and Chase Farms Hospitals NHS Trust.

Why did you join the NHS?

I'm committed to the principles of the NHS. I qualified as a nurse over 20 years ago and I got the opportunity to rejoin the NHS 10 years ago so that I could marry up my nursing skills with the work I've done around Public Relations and Marketing. I firmly believe that people who work for the NHS are completely committed to the work that they do and improving patient care.

What has been your most significant achievement?

My first significant achievement was becoming a nurse and luckily I have been able to develop my skills in Public Relations and Marketing so that I have been able to become the first black Director of Communications in the National Health Service.

Why did you join the Breaking Through programme?

I wanted to do Breaking Through because I liked the subject areas. They are around political astuteness, broad scanning and influencing skills. I saw a chief executive deliver a speech for 50 minutes and I thought ‘yes', that's what I want to do.

What is your current role?

I manage the reputation for our organisation. I make sure that the patients, the carers and their families know about Barnett and Chase Farm Hospitals and why we should be an organisation of choice when they need to come into hospital. Once the patients are with us I have to make sure they have the information they need so that they feel in charge, involved and informed about the decisions regarding their care.

What is most rewarding about working in the NHS?

I can hand-on-heart say I love working for the NHS because no two days are the same. One day I can be talking to a journalist at a national newspaper; the next day I can be interviewing a cleaner for our staff newspaper. There is no other job like it where you get to talk to such a diversity of people in such a diversity of roles.

How do you see your career developing?

I see my role developing the next five years by wanting to bring about positive change for communications. I want to add value to our board. I want to develop my strategic thinking. However, most importantly I want to make sure that communications is no longer seen as a "Cinderella role".

What do you get up to outside of work?

What do I do to relax? Party, party, party! I work hard so therefore I think I should play hard. Then I get time to chill out on my allotment.

How has Breaking Through helped your career?

Breaking Through has helped me to harness the skills I do have and helped me to develop the skills that I need. But most importantly Breaking Through has taught me three things: get a mentor, have a coach, and the importance of networking.

What advice would you give to those people who are considering applying?

The one piece of advice I would give to anyone wanting to join Breaking Through programme is to know why you want to be there. Know what the goal is that you want to achieve. But most importantly challenge yourself, take risks, believe in yourself. The last thing I would say is to have fun!

Hide Transcript