Megan O’Neill recently received a distinction in the end-point assessment for her business administrator apprenticeship at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust. Not only has she gained new knowledge and skills, but the process improvement project that she undertook as part of her apprenticeship has already had a significant impact on the trust as a whole.
Why did you decide to do an apprenticeship?
I decided to complete an apprenticeship so that I can progress in my career. It provides me with another qualification for my personal portfolio which I can use when applying for future job roles with a higher responsibility. Not only did I achieve a distinction at completion, but I have also come away with more knowledge and skills that I can use in both my current and future roles.
What was the process improvement project you undertook?
As part of my apprenticeship, I completed a process improvement project. My project’s aim was to increase weekend discharges on the acute site and to increase patient flow within the hospital. This means that more beds are available beds for patients within the accident and emergency department, and can potentially decrease the wait times within A&E for patients to be seen by clinicians or admitted to the hospital.
What impact has this had on the trust?
The process improvement project has had a positive impact on the trust. Since the actions in my project were rolled out in February, weekend discharges increased from around 55 patients/weekend to around 65 patients/weekend.
I also had some brilliant feedback from different teams across WWL with regards to this project.
For example, Kate Devenport, Directorate Manager – Discharge & Acute Therapies at Wrightingon, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“Megan’s project has been successfully adapted and embedded as a new way of working across the acute site. The new process gives greater oversight for the bed manager and the patient flow team at weekends when there is reduced staffing capacity within the acute discharge team. The work Megan has done here is something that we have been trying to achieve for two years. I look forward to the improvements her future projects will bring.”
Megan was also awarded the trust’s Employee of the Month Award in July for the contribution she has made.
Are there any other ways in which you think that you and your apprenticeship have impacted the trust?
The apprenticeship helped me to gain more skills around liaising with stakeholders, which built my confidence to speaking with managers across the trust.
How did you find working with Damar as your training provider?
Damar has been a fantastic training provider and has supported me throughout. Louise was my coach and I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to help and support me. She had confidence in me, even when I sometimes didn’t, and I knew that if I had any questions I could always reach out to her. And with the other coaches, and the forum on OneFile, I knew that there was always somebody there to help.
What are your future career plans?
Shortly I will be completing my Mediterm level 2 qualification which I am excited about. After that, I will apply my new knowledge to my role which will have a positive impact on myself, my team and the trust as a whole.