Orientation and Beyond

Posted by: Jordan Bailey - Posted on:

Orientation is one of the highlights of my short career in the NHS so far and is another huge reason why you should apply for the scheme. The opportunities it presents are fantastic, and I wanted to use this blog post just to list a few of my experiences with the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) to give a flavour of the types of things you can expect from it:

  • I spent a day on an Ambulance shadowing Paramedics on Halloween. Their commitment to the cause was fantastic (and it also highlighted how events such as Halloween can put added stress on the service).
  • I spent a day shadowing HART (Hazardous Area Response Team) who are paramedics who have undergone specialised training to respond to specialised incidents such as collapsed buildings, floodings, chemical incidents etc.
  • Visited all 3 Emergency Operations Centres (EOC) in Liverpool, Preston and Manchester (where 999 calls are handled and the correct vehicle / ambulance dispatched).
  • Visited NHS 111 in Bolton and listened in to some real time calls. Met with their Workforce Forecasting & Planning Manager.
  • Spent a day with the EOC Complaints / Investigations Unit. Attended a CCG meeting where the team had to take questions in relation to how we as a trust learn from a serious incident in order to prevent it from happening again.
  • Met with the Head of HR – Corporate Services
  • Visited the Carlisle site, and spent a day listening to safeguarding calls. An extremely tough job handled very professionally by all the staff
  • Met with the Audit team, and shadowed them for a day.

Whilst Orientation is amazing, the challenges that a first managerial post can bring in the NHS balance that out and have certainly brought me back down to earth a bit. My current project involves work across all 3 EOC’s (Liverpool, Preston & Manchester) and with NWAS being such a vast organisation geographically, it is really forcing me to come out my comfort zone in terms of approaching and contacting different people / departments in order to progress with my current project. There are also small teething problems such as no desk, chasing up a laptop, and sometimes struggling to see my place in the team. I am glad to say these are all starting to resolve now, and I am looking forward to getting stuck in even more as we approach Christmas time.


With the applications now closed, feel free to ask me any questions about the next part of the process on twitter @jordbailey or email me: [email protected] J

Share this:  

Alert: Applications are now closed for 2024 entry