Hi everyone, for this blog I’d like to give you an insight to what my typical week looks like as a 1^st Year General Management trainee in a strategic placement. I’m hoping that this will also be a good opportunity to reflect at the end of a busy week and take account of my achievements and challenges.

Monday

Today I was based in the office for the whole day, which was nice as I was able to catch up on emails that built up while I was on holiday last week. I was also in charge of the GMTS snapchat which was fun. I had catch-ups with colleagues at 9:00 and 11:00 to discuss the projects that I’ve been working on with them and then went home for lunch – living 5 minutes away from work is a huge bonus!

Tuesday

I spent all of Tuesday morning doing online work for the academic part of the scheme, the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Programme. I sometimes find it hard to fit in studying with my job so I’ve found that it’s best done little and often so I can stay on top of it. The online activities include reading, watching videos, completing short tasks and following virtual scenarios.

In the afternoon I caught up with my programme manager to run through my Flexi-placement proposal and then met gave one of my team members for a progress update on a report that I’m writing.

Wednesday

Early start today as I headed over to Great Yarmouth for a meeting about a pilot scheme that we’re running there. I find these meetings really valuable as I get to interact with a wide range of people including GPs, Community Matrons and Social Care professionals. I will be completing the evaluation aspect of this pilot which will be undertaken next week, so I spend the meeting scribbling down ideas which might be useful.

After the meeting, I hop over to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (which is in in the city of Norwich) to meet with my placement and line managers for my second placement. They have given me a job description to look through and we are matching it against my competencies to build a placement that will provide me with the right opportunities to develop and provide a good service for patients. I will be working in the Women and Children’s Division, which I am really looking forward to!

After this, I’m off again to another meeting which is luckily also in Norwich. I get there a little bit early so I end up being treated to a smoothie by a lovely retained GP who works at the CCG with me, and we chat about the project that we are both working on.

Thursday

Very early start today! I’m out the door at 7am (yes I consider that to be very early…) and head to Norwich City Hall for an 8:00am meeting. I’ve never been to a meeting here before and somehow, between my rudimentary knowledge of Norwich geography and a dodgy SatNav route, I get so lost in the city that I end up driving down a bus only lane for a mile, in completely the wrong direction! By the time I’ve passed the building I’m meant to be going to (twice!!), I find a car park and rush over. At this point I’m over half an hour late but my lovely colleague is really nice about it and sorts me a cup of tea so I can chill out before we get to work. The morning goes really quickly as I get to grips with the project management processes that I will be undertaking for a new project and I leave with my head spinning, but excited to get started.

I take a nice stroll through Norwich in the sun to the train station and get on a train to Whittlesford for an East of England Grad Scheme Alumni event. The event gave me a good opportunity to chat with grad scheme alumni in the region who have gone on to do all sorts of interesting jobs, as well as the chance to catch up with some of my friends who are on the scheme with me.

After a train delay, I don’t manage to get home until 21:30, what a long day! I collapse on the sofa and scoff some toast before bed.

Friday

I have dedicated today to working on my assignment (and writing this blog!). My manager is happy for me to work from home for this which is lovely as I can get so much more done in the peace and quiet of my empty house. During my lunch break I ring an estate agent to book some house viewings as I’m hoping to move closer to my next placement at the end of this summer. Hopefully I’ll be able to walk or cycle or get the bus to the hospital which would be great and would save me having to wait for a staff parking space.

This evening, I’ll be meeting some friends from work for dinner, I’ve only been in my placement since September  but I already know I’ll be sad to leave my CCG colleagues at the end of this summer…

So, that was my week, which is fairly typical for me, though usually I might have a little bit more time in the office to do project work but it does vary. Hope this was useful (and maybe even interesting?).

Happy as always to chat or answer your questions on twitter @iredalemaddie.

Thanks for reading!
Maddie