Virtual Trust Induction and Training – Robyn Gillgannon – Mersey Care NHS FT

One thing that scared me about starting my role in a virtual way was the training aspect, I had never used a finance system before so this was all so new to me. I remember on the day of my induction meeting my line manager asked me to join their team meeting that day, I felt like everybody was speaking a different language when I came out of the meeting which did scare me, but in such a short space of time (just over 6 weeks) I have picked so much up from my team and now I understand the language! The training is the exact style of training that works for me, instead of 2/ 3 hour training sessions that bombard you with information that you will forget straight afterwards, Claire started to train me for around 30/ 40 minutes on 1 different part of the job each morning, then I would go away and work on that for the rest of the day! I’m a more hands on type of learner, so this style of training 100% works for me.
Although I have never met any of my team in person, I see their faces most days on our team meetings which definitely keeps the team spirit high and gives everybody the chance to socialise face to face, even though it’s nothing compared to being in an office with people all day! Natalie and Carol are super supportive and are always asking if there are any problems/ anything we are struggling with. We were having Skype meetings every day but this week as a team we have decided to cut out our Tuesday and Thursday meetings as we find these aren’t necessary. Oh and we have had a Friday night quiz since I started which definitely helped me get to know everybody a little better.

When I look back over the past 6 weeks, I have learnt a lot and Claire/ Cathy are my go to people if I’m struggling with anything, they are always willing to help. I am a person that will always ask for help if I need it, which made me worry at first if I will come across as annoying when I keep asking questions, but they are always so happy to help! Obviously I don’t know everything and there are things that I need to work on that I don’t feel confident in yet and will continue to need practice on, but on a whole I am happy with my progress and never thought I would be able to pick things up as quickly as I have by working from home.

I can see already one huge difference between Mersey care and the last company I worked for, which is how much Mersey Care care about people. I worked for a company in the private sector alongside the owners of the company, in which I found everything they did was to benefit them and there were very little benefits for staff, this sometimes meant working 7 day weeks for no extra pay. I know that caring for people is what the organisational values are (CARES) and this really shows, not just in the hospitals/ clinics but across the whole Trust! And I’m so happy I chose to work for Mersey Care.
 
I really can’t think of any bad points, I’m not sure if this is due to not being used to having a support system in my previous job, but I honestly don’t have a bad word to say about my team and the way I have been welcomed in to the Trust!