What benefits did attending this year’s conference have on you and your development?
For me, I felt I was limited in my daily role to network with others outside of my own trust. I had very little connections and networks of other finance professionals, this event has helped me in meeting others, hearing their journeys with NHS Finance and where they wish to take their ideas and path towards.
It was nice to meet others who were also striving to achieve the best in themselves as well as wanting to make better practices in the way we work. It felt great to part of celebrating others achievements and also recognising our own achievements. It helped to remind me how we are all part of a collaborative team and our works as finance does contribute to the success of NHS and seeing it all did reignite the fire that I had initially when I first started working for the NHS 5 years back.
I have met a number of great people, some of which were also part of the ticket winners, and I am hopefully that within them was the next sets of senior finance colleagues and CFOs (which I hope to become in the coming years) – so I am really looking forward to what the future holds for us and would love to be able to meet up in similar event in the future to track our progressions.
The range of speakers from learning about health inequalities, locked in syndrome, virtual wards and AI technology has really opened my eyes to the vast amount of work going into trying to better Health care.
What were your 3 main take aways from the conference?
- Finance needs to step out and view the wider image to help tackle down the extensive spend on health. This is something I’ve really picked up on during the health inequalities speech from the professor Bola (which is was one of my highlights from the conference) .
- Almost everyone has some type of imposter syndrome, so we should really celebrate our own achievements more and not brush them down.
- Actually appreciate the NHS and all its staff – the impact we have on people’s lives and how much we work to better the future (sense of pride and motivation that all work, including finance does contribute to better lives)
How did the conference contribute to your professional network?
Being introduced to other winners and being assigned a buddy has really helped me in my own career path. Speaking to others on their journey and having tell my own has helped me feel more proud of my own achievements and gave me that motivation to continue in bettering myself.
Seeing other projects happening where finance is being encouraged to join in, has made me want to start reaching out to be involved. One of which is the insight programme, where I feel I could share my own experiences being from a BAME background and help contribute to make a better environment for all staff.
One of the reasons why I applied for a ticket was because I felt I hid away and lacked confidence. The support the conference provided me, helped me to calm my nerves and make the most of opportunities that presented itself. I want to be able to progress within the NHS and if the opportunities follow become a CFO, so building up the confidence and presenting myself is a huge area I need to work on to become successful. Attending this event has helped me begin this journey and I am looking forward to continuously push myself forward to achieve my gaols.
I am also expecting to start a new promotional role next month, so its really helped me get my mindset ready, and I am really looking forward for that new change which I want to use to better myself, the trust and my new colleagues.
What were the benefits of the buddy arrangements?
I managed to arrange for a virtual meet with my buddy ahead of the conference, we were able to discuss where I was in my career path, what I am trying to achieve from the event and where I see myself in the future. We exchanged numbers and I was able to meet my buddy on the 2nd day of the conference and we were able to have a very transparent and trusting conversation. We did touch upon goals we are trying to achieve and what worked best for him in his career journey and what I should be open and looking towards as I climb my own career journey. My Buddy has confirmed he is open to offering any help and advice I want in the future. It also helped that he was a BAME staff like myself, so made my goals feel more realistic and achievable.
What could we do to help better support the winners before and during the conference in the future?
I feel we should have had a in person meeting on the start of the conference with all the winners only, so that we could establish some bonds and use them to help comfort into the event. We did have the WhatsApp group, which did help but difficult at times because we don’t know each other’s faces and there is big crowds.
The coffee roulette was also good as I did find 2 out of 3 people in person. I feel maybe more meetings with other people, just to form bonds before the conference (I know not all would attend, but for those that do not have another member of staff from their trust it would be helpful).
Any other comments
Overall, although I was exhausted! I was left feeling very energic and optimistic about the future. I would love to attend again next year and have fed back to my own trust and colleagues that they should attend!
Thank you very much for the opportunity! 😊