Is anyone an Operational Coordinator for the NHS?

[BrickAlley]

And would you like to share a day in the life of?

I’ve got a job interview coming up and I’d really really like to get it!

I’ve worked on PTL and RTT for a while but not in this specialty, I’ve managed staff before and I think I’d be quite good at this role but it is a step up for me.

Any advice would be great, thank you!

I'm a directorate manager in the NHS and have been ops manager which I think is similar to your post. What band and specialty?

And what's the reporting structure (ie who will you report to and who will you manage) just to give me an idea of what might be expected in your role

Oooooo hello!

Ops Co in our trust report to the GM of that specialty, COTE, children’s etc.

This post is in women’s and children’s. Managing admin staff/PA’s/med secretaries etc.

Any advice at all would be great! I’m coming from medicine/ED so quite fast paced

Ok fab. I'd say the main thing (as I'm sure you know from your experience) is prioritising and being able to manage conflicting demands that come up out of no where and scupper your plans for the day. It will be a balancing act of maintaining performance and producing trajectories to improve performance in both tried and tested and innovative (read cheap/free) ways, managing governance (so timely responses to complaints/incidents/72 hour reviews), managing people and all that goes along with that.

My OSMs are fab (band 6 in a small DGH) and essentially I put all my trust in them to assure me about RTT and cancer performance (cancer will be a big one for you for gynae, one that will be hard to manage because of the nature of those patients and their fears). In my trust the OSMs monitor performance and figure out when to put on extra clinics, what patients should go in them, manage the medical rosters and medical staffing.

Interview wise, I'd say really read the job spec and JD, find key examples of when you've demonstrated that skill and learn them so they roll off your tongue.

I'd also speak to the recruiting manager and ask for an informal chat prior to the interview, ask about biggest challenges, the direction the service is going, what the make up of the team is etc. I've done this for all my jobs I've gone for (since a band 4, now 8b) and it's made a massive difference - insider info, manager knows you're keen and have done relevant research, gets you ahead of the rest of the interviewees, and makes you less nervous when interviewing as you've met them before). I've just appointed someone who came and shadowed the OSM for the day. Ask if you can do that!

Any other specific questions shout out and I'm happy to help! Best of luck!

Also, as again I'm sure you know, the NHS is operating in ever tougher financial pressures, so the chances are there will be big changes going on in that specialty to accommodate these. Likelihood is you'll be involved in some project management or QIPP/CIP programmes, having to adhere to those targets and time lines, producing work to contribute to that...

Alongside the other day to day operational running of the service (has x turned up for their on call shift, so and so is pregnant so has to come off nights effective immediately and of course they're on a run of nights this weekend. Mr so and so has hurt himself skiing so won't be able to do his theatre list for the next 6 weeks - what patients can the registrar do, which patients need to be cancelled and rebooked for when he's back, oh no they'll breach etc)

All that fun stuff.

I love operational management! Always different, no two days the same!

@Ginfilledcats, I really cannot thank you enough!

Lots to think about there, i'm making notes as I go along. Luckily I have experience of cancer 2ww so hopefully that goes in my favour. CIP is on my list of research and their F&P. Medical rota's have their own coordinator, after a stint as rota coordinator for EAU/ED i'd happily never touch another SHO rota, rota coordinators need medals!

I know this sounds cheesy but I really want to get across to them how much I love operations. At heart i'm a problem solver, its where my passion is and operations is perfect to channel that.

Again, thank you so much and very inspirational to hear about other women who've been B4's moving up to an 8B

Happy to help. I love ops and I love the NHS. I weirdly really like interviewing people too. Find it so fascinating!

Yep if you can talk around CIP - and specifically any CIP OR CQIN targets/ programmes for that service they'll be impressed and I doubt other candidates will consider looking into those. Same for Best Practise Tariff too.

Definitely focus on your love of ops in the interview. You either have it or you don't, you either love it or you don't. It definitely can't be taught, so be honest and express your love and why!

I find using the STAR method useful when answering questions so look into that if you are not familiar with it. And always think about why are they asking me this, what do they actually want to know.

Questions I asked in the interviews recently included

What are the biggest challenges for this service
What is it that you bring to this post that others won't
Can you talk about a time where something went wrong and how you dealt with that
Can you tell me about a success in work and what your contributions were to it
Tell us about a time you have had conflict with a member of the team/medic at work and how you handled/resolved that
RTT scenario question
Strengths/ weaknesses
Why do you want this job