Beth took the apprenticeship route and has held 9 different roles within 8 years…
I had been working in finance within the private sector for a short amount of time after deciding that the college and university route wasn’t for me. I knew I loved numbers however it wasn’t the route I had planned on taking for my career. My tutor had told me that an apprenticeship role was coming up at what was then NHS Staffordshire & Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (CSU). I knew it was a great opportunity and therefore I decided to go for it, and I was so pleased when I secured the role.
After beginning my apprenticeship at the CSU, I then moved on to be a Transaction Processing Assistant in the accounts payable department at the newly formed NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU and about 18 months later, I moved into the corporate finance team for a short period, before taking up a role as Senior Assistant Financial Advisor for the Division of Surgery at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS FT.
I later secured two secondments at Lancashire Teaching working in Reporting and on COVID-19 expenditure which were fantastic development opportunities. After over a year on secondment I secured a permanent promotion into the role of Finance Transactions Manager, looking after accounts payable and accounts receivable within my organisation. The experience I had from being an apprentice was invaluable moving back to financial services after 4 years in management accounts. I have most recently secured a new position of Financial Advisor for the Lancashire and South Cumbria Pathology Collaboration and am looking forward to the next step in my career moving back into management accounts.
Working in the NHS provides so many opportunities to progress and develop your career, but something so special to me about working in the NHS is being lucky enough to work for my local NHS organisation. I have experienced the care from my Trust first-hand, as have my friends and family. Although it can be challenging, knowing you are helping patients every day, even if not on the front line, is really rewarding and I can see exactly how important the work we do is in helping our hospitals to function.
My organisation provides general hospital services to 390,000 patients across Chorley, South Ribble & Preston and provides specialist services to 1.5m patients across Lancashire and South Cumbria. The work I do with my team in finance ensures these patients receive the best possible care they can.
