Where do I go from here?
Discussion
This is a difficult one without trying to sound ungrateful. I have had a job in healthcare (NHS) throughout the pandemic. I appreciate that I am lucky to have that stability.
However I do not enjoy my work at all. The only advantage is that the commute is short. The issue is that once I complete my further studies (12-18 months from now) there is no position above me nearby. I would have to travel 70-90 minute commute each way and my salary would only go up by £4k. (The salary is below £50k BTW).
BUT there is potential for me to start my own business (big risk) once I complete the aforementioned qualifications and then another course (cost is around 6-8k) so we're talking at least 24 months from now.
The issue is that I'm itching for a complete career change into the IT sector (broad I know) because other than that business opportunity the profession I'm in is going downhill (Pharmacist).
I'm leaning towards the business idea because I don't have any commitments (no mortgage, partner or kids).
However every time we've had IT issues at work that required a technician to come in or remote assistance I sometimes end up solving the issue for them which surprises them and I start to think whether I'm in the wrong career as it seems to come naturally to me.
I'm at a bit of a crossroads at the moment, I know I need to pick one and not sit on the fence. Any advice would be appreciated.
However I do not enjoy my work at all. The only advantage is that the commute is short. The issue is that once I complete my further studies (12-18 months from now) there is no position above me nearby. I would have to travel 70-90 minute commute each way and my salary would only go up by £4k. (The salary is below £50k BTW).
BUT there is potential for me to start my own business (big risk) once I complete the aforementioned qualifications and then another course (cost is around 6-8k) so we're talking at least 24 months from now.
The issue is that I'm itching for a complete career change into the IT sector (broad I know) because other than that business opportunity the profession I'm in is going downhill (Pharmacist).
I'm leaning towards the business idea because I don't have any commitments (no mortgage, partner or kids).
However every time we've had IT issues at work that required a technician to come in or remote assistance I sometimes end up solving the issue for them which surprises them and I start to think whether I'm in the wrong career as it seems to come naturally to me.
I'm at a bit of a crossroads at the moment, I know I need to pick one and not sit on the fence. Any advice would be appreciated.
difficult one. What sector of IT would you want and what 'salary' expectations would you have? IT is a massive area and sometimes highly specialised. Networking, infrastructure, DBA's, Programming, Analysis, Testing, project management, data, Devops, Packages like Dynamics, SAS, Salesforce etcsecurity and then you have a split down business domains and architecture oracle, MS, Linux, AWS, AZURE etc etc. this list is almost endless
you seem to indicate 'support work' that is generally low paid by comparison and a lot of corporate work is largely tied up by the large computer services organisations like Compuware or internal.
programming in general is a good choice but Degree and/or experience is the key to getting in and its a catch 22.
Would freelance nursing be attractive or 'private hospital' or another branch in the medical profession. There are a few organisations building IT systems for managing in-work health and certifications e.g. Carpal Tunnel, Vibration, hazardout substance exposure s etc and need medical staff to help build those systems and then run them.
you seem to indicate 'support work' that is generally low paid by comparison and a lot of corporate work is largely tied up by the large computer services organisations like Compuware or internal.
programming in general is a good choice but Degree and/or experience is the key to getting in and its a catch 22.
Would freelance nursing be attractive or 'private hospital' or another branch in the medical profession. There are a few organisations building IT systems for managing in-work health and certifications e.g. Carpal Tunnel, Vibration, hazardout substance exposure s etc and need medical staff to help build those systems and then run them.
I'm in IT but I did seriously look at becoming a Pharmacist when starting out 20 years ago - my Grandfather owned and ran his own pharmacy and made a very decent living from it.
In the early noughties you were looking at a salary of around £35k as a qualified and registered community pharmacist working 9-5 Monday to Friday. I gather you wouldn't be looking at a great deal more than that in actual cash terms today, let alone adjusted for inflation which would be more like £60k and you might also be expected to cover 40 hours between 7-10, 7 days a week in some cases. Pharmacists certainly always seem to be asked to do a lot more for no more money so I can see why you feel the way you do about it as a career.
I can assure you there are plenty of crap jobs in IT as well though. The big problem in IT is there is no baseline for professional competence* - whilst I'm sure there are pharmacists who are not particularly great, at least by passing a pharmacy degree and their registration they have at least proved some level of ability and competence. In IT there is no such thing and there are some absolute charlatans you end up having to deal with who's only ability is to sit in meetings and talk a good game whilst having no real technical or problem solving ability, and finding a few competent people they can hang on the coattails of to give the outward appearance that they have been central in a successful project that they can add to their CV and get their next promotion.
If you've got a decent degree your best route into IT might be via a graduate programme through one of the big consultancy players like Accenture or DXC where you'll cut your teeth on big corporate projects and they'll train you up. This would provide a decent grounding for contracting later on. I've never worked in that part of the industry myself but I know a few people who have and they have generally done well out of it.
Support and hands-on technical roles seem to be going backwards these days. There's still heavy demand for really good technical people who can do customer facing work from Managed Service Providers but those roles will need a few years experience.
Everyone wants Cloud Architects at the moment - people who understand the different services on Azure and AWS and how they can be combined together to solve a problem. Some will disagree, but I think people starting out and going straight into consuming cloud services might be better placed than people who've been around a while and can only think of the cloud as somewhere to run the virtual machines they've already got when rather than thinking "I need a SQL Server" they should be thinking "What's the best means to run a SQL database now".
The other big area at the moment is security which of itself is quite a broad church.
In the early noughties you were looking at a salary of around £35k as a qualified and registered community pharmacist working 9-5 Monday to Friday. I gather you wouldn't be looking at a great deal more than that in actual cash terms today, let alone adjusted for inflation which would be more like £60k and you might also be expected to cover 40 hours between 7-10, 7 days a week in some cases. Pharmacists certainly always seem to be asked to do a lot more for no more money so I can see why you feel the way you do about it as a career.
I can assure you there are plenty of crap jobs in IT as well though. The big problem in IT is there is no baseline for professional competence* - whilst I'm sure there are pharmacists who are not particularly great, at least by passing a pharmacy degree and their registration they have at least proved some level of ability and competence. In IT there is no such thing and there are some absolute charlatans you end up having to deal with who's only ability is to sit in meetings and talk a good game whilst having no real technical or problem solving ability, and finding a few competent people they can hang on the coattails of to give the outward appearance that they have been central in a successful project that they can add to their CV and get their next promotion.
If you've got a decent degree your best route into IT might be via a graduate programme through one of the big consultancy players like Accenture or DXC where you'll cut your teeth on big corporate projects and they'll train you up. This would provide a decent grounding for contracting later on. I've never worked in that part of the industry myself but I know a few people who have and they have generally done well out of it.
Support and hands-on technical roles seem to be going backwards these days. There's still heavy demand for really good technical people who can do customer facing work from Managed Service Providers but those roles will need a few years experience.
Everyone wants Cloud Architects at the moment - people who understand the different services on Azure and AWS and how they can be combined together to solve a problem. Some will disagree, but I think people starting out and going straight into consuming cloud services might be better placed than people who've been around a while and can only think of the cloud as somewhere to run the virtual machines they've already got when rather than thinking "I need a SQL Server" they should be thinking "What's the best means to run a SQL database now".
The other big area at the moment is security which of itself is quite a broad church.
- The British Computer Society have a Chartered IT Professional programme, but it's never taken off and seems to be regarded as a bit Mickey Mouse - to the extent that hiring managers actually tend to be sceptical about people who hold it, so it can do your career more harm than good.
sparkyhx said:
difficult one. What sector of IT would you want and what 'salary' expectations would you have? IT is a massive area and sometimes highly specialised. Networking, infrastructure, DBA's, Programming, Analysis, Testing, project management, data, Devops, Packages like Dynamics, SAS, Salesforce etcsecurity and then you have a split down business domains and architecture oracle, MS, Linux, AWS, AZURE etc etc. this list is almost endless
you seem to indicate 'support work' that is generally low paid by comparison and a lot of corporate work is largely tied up by the large computer services organisations like Compuware or internal.
programming in general is a good choice but Degree and/or experience is the key to getting in and its a catch 22.
Would freelance nursing be attractive or 'private hospital' or another branch in the medical profession. There are a few organisations building IT systems for managing in-work health and certifications e.g. Carpal Tunnel, Vibration, hazardout substance exposure s etc and need medical staff to help build those systems and then run them.
Unfortunately not, private work in pharmacy is almost non existent and it is paid pretty much the same as NHSyou seem to indicate 'support work' that is generally low paid by comparison and a lot of corporate work is largely tied up by the large computer services organisations like Compuware or internal.
programming in general is a good choice but Degree and/or experience is the key to getting in and its a catch 22.
Would freelance nursing be attractive or 'private hospital' or another branch in the medical profession. There are a few organisations building IT systems for managing in-work health and certifications e.g. Carpal Tunnel, Vibration, hazardout substance exposure s etc and need medical staff to help build those systems and then run them.
quinny100 said:
I'm in IT but I did seriously look at becoming a Pharmacist when starting out 20 years ago - my Grandfather owned and ran his own pharmacy and made a very decent living from it.
In the early noughties you were looking at a salary of around £35k as a qualified and registered community pharmacist working 9-5 Monday to Friday. I gather you wouldn't be looking at a great deal more than that in actual cash terms today, let alone adjusted for inflation which would be more like £60k and you might also be expected to cover 40 hours between 7-10, 7 days a week in some cases. Pharmacists certainly always seem to be asked to do a lot more for no more money so I can see why you feel the way you do about it as a career.
I can assure you there are plenty of crap jobs in IT as well though. The big problem in IT is there is no baseline for professional competence* - whilst I'm sure there are pharmacists who are not particularly great, at least by passing a pharmacy degree and their registration they have at least proved some level of ability and competence. In IT there is no such thing and there are some absolute charlatans you end up having to deal with who's only ability is to sit in meetings and talk a good game whilst having no real technical or problem solving ability, and finding a few competent people they can hang on the coattails of to give the outward appearance that they have been central in a successful project that they can add to their CV and get their next promotion.
If you've got a decent degree your best route into IT might be via a graduate programme through one of the big consultancy players like Accenture or DXC where you'll cut your teeth on big corporate projects and they'll train you up. This would provide a decent grounding for contracting later on. I've never worked in that part of the industry myself but I know a few people who have and they have generally done well out of it.
Support and hands-on technical roles seem to be going backwards these days. There's still heavy demand for really good technical people who can do customer facing work from Managed Service Providers but those roles will need a few years experience.
Everyone wants Cloud Architects at the moment - people who understand the different services on Azure and AWS and how they can be combined together to solve a problem. Some will disagree, but I think people starting out and going straight into consuming cloud services might be better placed than people who've been around a while and can only think of the cloud as somewhere to run the virtual machines they've already got when rather than thinking "I need a SQL Server" they should be thinking "What's the best means to run a SQL database now".
The other big area at the moment is security which of itself is quite a broad church.
Very interesting, unfortunately the £35k salary hasn't changed much. You would think there would be a level of competence for becoming a pharmacist but I have encountered some shockingly bad pharmacists to a point where I think they must have bought their degrees or something.In the early noughties you were looking at a salary of around £35k as a qualified and registered community pharmacist working 9-5 Monday to Friday. I gather you wouldn't be looking at a great deal more than that in actual cash terms today, let alone adjusted for inflation which would be more like £60k and you might also be expected to cover 40 hours between 7-10, 7 days a week in some cases. Pharmacists certainly always seem to be asked to do a lot more for no more money so I can see why you feel the way you do about it as a career.
I can assure you there are plenty of crap jobs in IT as well though. The big problem in IT is there is no baseline for professional competence* - whilst I'm sure there are pharmacists who are not particularly great, at least by passing a pharmacy degree and their registration they have at least proved some level of ability and competence. In IT there is no such thing and there are some absolute charlatans you end up having to deal with who's only ability is to sit in meetings and talk a good game whilst having no real technical or problem solving ability, and finding a few competent people they can hang on the coattails of to give the outward appearance that they have been central in a successful project that they can add to their CV and get their next promotion.
If you've got a decent degree your best route into IT might be via a graduate programme through one of the big consultancy players like Accenture or DXC where you'll cut your teeth on big corporate projects and they'll train you up. This would provide a decent grounding for contracting later on. I've never worked in that part of the industry myself but I know a few people who have and they have generally done well out of it.
Support and hands-on technical roles seem to be going backwards these days. There's still heavy demand for really good technical people who can do customer facing work from Managed Service Providers but those roles will need a few years experience.
Everyone wants Cloud Architects at the moment - people who understand the different services on Azure and AWS and how they can be combined together to solve a problem. Some will disagree, but I think people starting out and going straight into consuming cloud services might be better placed than people who've been around a while and can only think of the cloud as somewhere to run the virtual machines they've already got when rather than thinking "I need a SQL Server" they should be thinking "What's the best means to run a SQL database now".
The other big area at the moment is security which of itself is quite a broad church.
- The British Computer Society have a Chartered IT Professional programme, but it's never taken off and seems to be regarded as a bit Mickey Mouse - to the extent that hiring managers actually tend to be sceptical about people who hold it, so it can do your career more harm than good.
I have never considered consulting, a friend of mine mentioned it in the past in addition to becoming a data analyst. I will look into the consultancy firms, see if it's something I could do. Thanks for the advice
Appreciate you mentioned moving to IT, but what about pharma industry.
A pharmacy degree will get you into pretty much any area; Reg Affairs, PVG, Med Info, Clinical Development, QC/manufacturing, etc
They’ll be M-F jobs (except QC/manufacturing which is a 24/7/365 operation), pay is pretty good, though a bit sector dependent (R&D, generic, CRO).
Plenty of consultants (& consultancy Cos) around once you get a bit of experience under your belt.
A pharmacy degree will get you into pretty much any area; Reg Affairs, PVG, Med Info, Clinical Development, QC/manufacturing, etc
They’ll be M-F jobs (except QC/manufacturing which is a 24/7/365 operation), pay is pretty good, though a bit sector dependent (R&D, generic, CRO).
Plenty of consultants (& consultancy Cos) around once you get a bit of experience under your belt.
I have worked in big IT consultancy for most of my career (in my early 50s now). If you look at the ones that go to market by industry (versus by technology) then there can be openings for people with specialist vertical knowledge. Many firms struggle to present business outcomes instead of technology accomplishments and therefore look for people with vertical knowledge, such as HC or pharmaceutical, and who can present IT concepts and projects through a business lens. HC technology spend is growing rapidly so bags of opportunity. Good luck!
Edited by Roaringopenfire on Monday 10th May 23:31
Pinkie15 said:
Appreciate you mentioned moving to IT, but what about pharma industry.
A pharmacy degree will get you into pretty much any area; Reg Affairs, PVG, Med Info, Clinical Development, QC/manufacturing, etc
They’ll be M-F jobs (except QC/manufacturing which is a 24/7/365 operation), pay is pretty good, though a bit sector dependent (R&D, generic, CRO).
Plenty of consultants (& consultancy Cos) around once you get a bit of experience under your belt.
This was going to be my response too. Pharmacy guy who can also ‘do IT’ may be of interest to these types of roles.A pharmacy degree will get you into pretty much any area; Reg Affairs, PVG, Med Info, Clinical Development, QC/manufacturing, etc
They’ll be M-F jobs (except QC/manufacturing which is a 24/7/365 operation), pay is pretty good, though a bit sector dependent (R&D, generic, CRO).
Plenty of consultants (& consultancy Cos) around once you get a bit of experience under your belt.
Re pharmacy pay; it’s simply supply and demand unfortunately.
Good luck!
30 year veteran of IT here. Maybe Im burnt but I would say stay within the medical world as there will always be sick people and the NHS will always be funded. Plus there's major money to be made in the private section and age is seen as wisdom. IT is a young mans game, ooohhh I can hear the sharp intake of breathe as you read that but it's true. ;-)
IT has 5 year trends where existing systems, platforms are replaced by the next `shiney` technology that your vendors tell you that your business needs. Vendors scare development by pulling support and no company wants to have an IT system that isnt supported. However your support teams now know all the bugs and issues with the current platform and it's uptime has been 99.99999% but `accounts` has done the deal and the new platform is arriving so get ready for issues, patches, 2am outage calls, etc. Or...a new CEO has arrived and he prefers a totally different type of technology which is now the company's new standard and to be rolled out / replacing existing. Suddenly your skill set isnt required now and deemed `old`, `not the future`.
So unless you keep re-skilling, keeping learning the new latest technologies you will be left behind. I started off as a Unix administrator in large data centers, trade floors but over time moved into consultancy, project management and governance, trying to keep on the IT train.
When I started we supported physical servers, but these are went virtual. Teams were cut down and moved off shore and now to the next cheapest location. Developers then became support admins, service managers have become sales men. Such a different world to when I first started. Due to costs support teams are off site and all remote, all support numerous clients and never truly knowing the qwerks of the system. Everything is scripted so if your problem isnt a common one then you're in trouble. `Lessons learnt` at the end of projects are never truly reviewed or `learnt` as the same mistakes are made over and over again.
You start off working for Company A but then are tupe'ed over to Company B but now with less benefits or pension, or that you need to train your replacement in India and your out in 6 months. You soon realise the days of working your way up to CEO are over and only happens in Disney movies. You're just an IT asset. You soon learn that career progression is hard as It's easier to recruit in new management than to promote internal so you decide to go contracting which opens up a whole new world of issues.
Wow, re-reading that makes me realise how bitter and twisted I am !! :-) Dont even start me on the demise of contracting which is now the combination of the worst bits of permy / contracting i.e Inside IR35.
Supporting a few PCs in your office isnt IT, well not major big time, big money IT anyway. If I had to restart, staying in IT, then Oracle DBAs seem to be the one skill set that has always been in demand. Shame as I had the chance to learn it but stayed with Solaris........ which was killed off by Linux. Again another subject that angers me :-) Linux, the Os that stole all the best bits of the other System 5 OSs.
I give myself 10 more years in this world then I plan to leave and sell coffee in a mobile van !! :-)
Anway, back on to the point of this thread. Stay in the medical world and look to go private.
SBK
IT has 5 year trends where existing systems, platforms are replaced by the next `shiney` technology that your vendors tell you that your business needs. Vendors scare development by pulling support and no company wants to have an IT system that isnt supported. However your support teams now know all the bugs and issues with the current platform and it's uptime has been 99.99999% but `accounts` has done the deal and the new platform is arriving so get ready for issues, patches, 2am outage calls, etc. Or...a new CEO has arrived and he prefers a totally different type of technology which is now the company's new standard and to be rolled out / replacing existing. Suddenly your skill set isnt required now and deemed `old`, `not the future`.
So unless you keep re-skilling, keeping learning the new latest technologies you will be left behind. I started off as a Unix administrator in large data centers, trade floors but over time moved into consultancy, project management and governance, trying to keep on the IT train.
When I started we supported physical servers, but these are went virtual. Teams were cut down and moved off shore and now to the next cheapest location. Developers then became support admins, service managers have become sales men. Such a different world to when I first started. Due to costs support teams are off site and all remote, all support numerous clients and never truly knowing the qwerks of the system. Everything is scripted so if your problem isnt a common one then you're in trouble. `Lessons learnt` at the end of projects are never truly reviewed or `learnt` as the same mistakes are made over and over again.
You start off working for Company A but then are tupe'ed over to Company B but now with less benefits or pension, or that you need to train your replacement in India and your out in 6 months. You soon realise the days of working your way up to CEO are over and only happens in Disney movies. You're just an IT asset. You soon learn that career progression is hard as It's easier to recruit in new management than to promote internal so you decide to go contracting which opens up a whole new world of issues.
Wow, re-reading that makes me realise how bitter and twisted I am !! :-) Dont even start me on the demise of contracting which is now the combination of the worst bits of permy / contracting i.e Inside IR35.
Supporting a few PCs in your office isnt IT, well not major big time, big money IT anyway. If I had to restart, staying in IT, then Oracle DBAs seem to be the one skill set that has always been in demand. Shame as I had the chance to learn it but stayed with Solaris........ which was killed off by Linux. Again another subject that angers me :-) Linux, the Os that stole all the best bits of the other System 5 OSs.
I give myself 10 more years in this world then I plan to leave and sell coffee in a mobile van !! :-)
Anway, back on to the point of this thread. Stay in the medical world and look to go private.
SBK
Edited by sbk1972 on Tuesday 11th May 09:09
The thing about the IT industry is that it is massively competitive. I spent thousands of hours perfecting my craft, I consider myself pretty good in my specialisms, and there is always someone better than you.
As you get older, you get less likely to keep up / keep abreast of the technology trends, and there are quite literally a million people coming up through the ranks who are ready to take your place.
I did also consider Pharmacy when I was younger, did work experience and some training, but found it way too dull, and actually quite a b
hy place to work. Something which I later had confirmed by an ex who also did pharmacology.
Keeping it PH, I do have good memories of doing work experience in a pharmacy up the road. Over the course of two weeks, it mainly seemed to consist of drinking tea, eating cakes, unlocking the methodone cabinet. But most importantly, doing deliveries in the pharmacists brand new top-spec Volvo 960 estate. That thing felt like pure luxury to sit in!
As you get older, you get less likely to keep up / keep abreast of the technology trends, and there are quite literally a million people coming up through the ranks who are ready to take your place.
I did also consider Pharmacy when I was younger, did work experience and some training, but found it way too dull, and actually quite a b
hy place to work. Something which I later had confirmed by an ex who also did pharmacology.Keeping it PH, I do have good memories of doing work experience in a pharmacy up the road. Over the course of two weeks, it mainly seemed to consist of drinking tea, eating cakes, unlocking the methodone cabinet. But most importantly, doing deliveries in the pharmacists brand new top-spec Volvo 960 estate. That thing felt like pure luxury to sit in!
As has already been mentioned, think about trying pharma/chem software companies.
I work in consulting/software in a different discipline, but still business process related. I happen to have a BSc (hons) in maths/IT but it's irrelevant; what matters is my many years in industry. No one else in our consulting teams has any tech background although everyone has an interest in applying tech to business.
I work in consulting/software in a different discipline, but still business process related. I happen to have a BSc (hons) in maths/IT but it's irrelevant; what matters is my many years in industry. No one else in our consulting teams has any tech background although everyone has an interest in applying tech to business.
If you have an interest in IT and is a pharmacist the world is literally your oyster. I've just secured some funding to pay someone to help me develop various projects in regards to implementing a new FHIR compliant closed loop EPMA solution.
Front line driven digital transformation is new buzz word in healthcare, but finding front line teams with any interest or experience in IT/PM is like hens teeth.
Look up how much Cambridge paid to implement Epic and how that went!!
There are loads of IT vendors around, there are loads of front line healthcare teams around, there are even loads of project management around in the NHS, but if you can do all three, that will get noticed very quickly! There is never any money in the NHS, but there is always resource/money to fund the whats needed next, and digital health care delivery (medicines management is a key company) is one of the key priorities in the NHS.
Look at the process of your current job, see if you can identify areas of improvements. Speak to the boss about what you think will make things better, think of ways to make life easier for GPs - they really will take notice!
No one will hand you a progression role in the NHS, but if you put the work in, do something different beyond the routine job you will get opportunities.
Front line driven digital transformation is new buzz word in healthcare, but finding front line teams with any interest or experience in IT/PM is like hens teeth.
Look up how much Cambridge paid to implement Epic and how that went!!
There are loads of IT vendors around, there are loads of front line healthcare teams around, there are even loads of project management around in the NHS, but if you can do all three, that will get noticed very quickly! There is never any money in the NHS, but there is always resource/money to fund the whats needed next, and digital health care delivery (medicines management is a key company) is one of the key priorities in the NHS.
Look at the process of your current job, see if you can identify areas of improvements. Speak to the boss about what you think will make things better, think of ways to make life easier for GPs - they really will take notice!
No one will hand you a progression role in the NHS, but if you put the work in, do something different beyond the routine job you will get opportunities.
Edited by gangzoom on Saturday 15th May 07:59
gangzoom said:
If you have an interest in IT and is a pharmacist the world is literally your oyster. I've just secured some funding to pay someone to help me develop various projects in regards to implementing a new FHIR compliant closed loop EPMA solution.
Front line driven digital transformation is new buzz word in healthcare, but finding front line teams with any interest or experience in IT/PM is like hens teeth.
Look up how much Cambridge paid to implement Epic and how that went!!
There are loads of IT vendors around, there are loads of front line healthcare teams around, there are even loads of project management around in the NHS, but if you can do all three, that will get noticed very quickly! There is never any money in the NHS, but there is always resource/money to fund the whats needed next, and digital health care delivery (medicines management is a key company) is one of the key priorities in the NHS.
Look at the process of your current job, see if you can identify areas of improvements. Speak to the boss about what you think will make things better, think of ways to make life easier for GPs - they really will take notice!
No one will hand you a progression role in the NHS, but if you put the work in, do something different beyond the routine job you will get opportunities.
Interesting, I have tried to implement cost saving measures in terms of medicines management and try to make changes within the department however a majority of people see it as a 9-5 job and do not care. One of the great frustrations is the lack of innovation and when people ask me why I care so much and just to do the hours and go home, then I know the job isn't right for me.Front line driven digital transformation is new buzz word in healthcare, but finding front line teams with any interest or experience in IT/PM is like hens teeth.
Look up how much Cambridge paid to implement Epic and how that went!!
There are loads of IT vendors around, there are loads of front line healthcare teams around, there are even loads of project management around in the NHS, but if you can do all three, that will get noticed very quickly! There is never any money in the NHS, but there is always resource/money to fund the whats needed next, and digital health care delivery (medicines management is a key company) is one of the key priorities in the NHS.
Look at the process of your current job, see if you can identify areas of improvements. Speak to the boss about what you think will make things better, think of ways to make life easier for GPs - they really will take notice!
No one will hand you a progression role in the NHS, but if you put the work in, do something different beyond the routine job you will get opportunities.
Edited by gangzoom on Saturday 15th May 07:59
flibbage0 said:
and try to make changes within the department however a majority of people see it as a 9-5 job and do not care.
Hence why change in the NHS is such a priority target and why there is increasing investment in HR to address this.NHS acute trust are massive organisations, our one is a £1 billion organisation, most of that funding comes from CCGs whom are ultimately also your pay master, so its all linked.
Top down driven change programs really don't work, front line engagement is absolutely vital, but to do that you have to fund front line staff to be released from their day job which is not cheap.
However the oportunities to deliver or atleast try to deliver change is around. There are plenty of nationally funded programs to help you study leadship/management/IT within the NHS but you first have to demonstrate some initiative and resilience in been able help deliver quality improvement projects first.
If you really are serious about these are some programmes I've been on. Though these programmes are excellent and gives you access industry leaders, I took part in them whilst doing my day job. They are open to health care professionals, nurses, doctors, physios, pharmacists, so even though they are all competitive entry you are judged against your peers rather than individuals- ie its 'fair', as nurses aren't expected to have the same CV as doctors to access the same course.
They provide a great stepping stone to gain access to higher positions that will allow you to actually start making a difference to service design rather than just the day job stuff. Pay progress is secondary benefit of higher positions.
https://www.leadershipacademy.nhs.uk/
https://digital-transformation.hee.nhs.uk/digital-...
Edited by gangzoom on Sunday 16th May 06:04
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