What benefits did attending this year’s conference have on you and your development?
It was really great to experience the full conference, attend all the talks and network with others from across the country. It is a good way to feel inspired by how many different roles and Trusts there are throughout the NHS. It was also interesting to talk to some of the exhibitors and actually find out stuff about my own Trust that I didn’t even know!
What were your 3 main take aways from the conference?
- It was interesting to hear a summary of the NHS priorities in light of the new government and October budget from key people such as the CEO of the Kings Fund and Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. It helped with my understanding of where the money is going and what the plans are for the coming year.
- I also found the talk from Ed Gillespie really insightful, regarding climate change and the NHS, where he spoke about things such as the carbon footprint of pensions and how AI has impacted climate change.
- I plan to encourage my Trust to put themselves forward for awards next year, GSTT are the biggest Trust in London and were not represented in any of the awards! It is a really fun night to recognise good work in the Trust.
How did the conference contribute to your professional network?
One of the main benefits for me was meeting one of the other competition winners who is now in the process of applying to a vacancy in my own team at Guys & St Thomas’s.
What were the benefits of the buddy arrangements?
I found that the most useful thing about the buddy arrangement was actually having one of the other competition winners as a buddy. I understand in previous years there was a 1:1 buddy assignment and this year it was 1:2 due to availability but I think this is preferable because although we did meet up with our buddy on a couple of occasions, I spent most of my time with the other competition winner. We found each other at the very beginning of the conference and we were able to circle back to each other throughout the entire conference. I would recommend ‘buddying up’ the competition winners in future years.
What could we do to help better support the winners before and during the conference in the future?
I thought the whatsapp group was a good idea, but we still had trouble finding other competition winners once we got to the conference. I think arranging an agreed time and place to meet at the very beginning of the conference would be really useful.
Laura Simpson,
Finance Manager – Evelina Children’s Cardio-Respiratory & Intensive Care (CRIC),
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust