Hannah is currently working as a Medical Secretary (Apprentice) in the Imaging Secretarial Team. Within 9 months of starting as an apprentice she was promoted to a Band 4 Medical Secretary whilst still completing her apprenticeship.
When asked why she chose to do an apprenticeship, Hannah said that after graduating from university in 2020 (at the height of the pandemic when finding a job was difficult), she felt at a complete loss as to what she wanted to do, but she knew she had a huge interest in working for the NHS.
She heard that CUH offered administration apprenticeships so she contacted the Work Opportunities Team to enquire about them.
They were due to release business admin/customer service apprenticeships in Imaging the following week, so she applied for the Imaging Secretarial apprenticeship and got the job!
She specifically chose CUH because of the Trust’s excellent reputation. She also knew other people who worked here and how much they liked it, which made her more ambitious about working here.
What does a typical day look like in your role?
No day is the same for me. A lot of my working days are organising rotas for our consultants, sending reports to GP practices, printing out letters for patients, booking patients in for different procedures and answering phone or email queries. I also help my colleagues by creating files for new starters and writing minutes of meetings in person or on Teams.
What do you enjoy about your role?
I really enjoy the interaction I have with our patients. That for me is what makes the role when a patient recognises all the work you have done for them and they thank you for it.
I also really like working with my colleagues as we all support each other to achieve the same goal. I have been very lucky that everyone who I work with has been incredibly supportive and friendly and that makes coming to work every day much more enjoyable.
What sorts of things do you do for the off the job learning aspect of your apprenticeship?
This can be anything relating to your work, be it extra training through CUH or college or being shown a new skill.
I used it to shadow different sections of the Imaging Department and learn about the different aspects of my job. For some of my apprenticeship, I supported the Ultrasound and CT admin teams.
That was really useful, as I got to find out what it was like to work in other teams and to see what I wanted to do in my future career. I also used it for learning how to produce minutes of meetings and how to book our patients in.
Does this involve attending college or is it all completed at work?
As my apprenticeship was completed during Covid-19, all my sessions were taught online. Although it wasn’t what I was expecting, it was still really helpful and I got to know the other apprentices who started working around the same time as me. We all got along really well and I have stayed in touch with some of them.
What are your future intentions?
I will sadly be leaving Imaging soon as I have a new job as a Medical Secretary / PA in the Nephrology department so that is my immediate plan for the future. I think after this I would like to stay working