Celebrating our administrative professionals
At WHC we have an excellent team of administrators who provide invaluable support to our clinical teams. Today we are celebrating and thanking all our admin professionals - secretaries, administrative assistants, administrators, personal assistants, receptionists, and all those that work hard carrying out administrative functions across the organisation.
Rachel Taylor, Consultant Nurse Practitioner in Frailty said: "I would like to thank everyone who works in an administrative role across our services. Whatever that role is, you are a vital and valued member of the multidisciplinary team and without you, clinicians wouldn't be able to deliver patient care. Thank you again for all that you do."
Bev Piper, Infection Prevention and Control Specialist Practitioner said: "The flu vaccination programme could not have been managed without the hardworking admin team who kept us on the straight and narrow. They organised the movement of vaccines around the bases to ensure that as vaccinators we had the vaccines that we required. They also kept an eye on all the data and ensured that it was available for the meetings. Thank you."
Here is just a snapshot of some of the work that our adminstrators do:
Jodie O’Brien
“I started working at WHC 7 months ago as a reception supervisor looking after 7 sites. It’s fair to say that my feet haven’t touched the ground since! One of the main roles of the receptionist is to meet and greet visitors, putting anxious patients at ease and directing people to the right department when they are lost. We also accept a lot of deliveries for other colleagues, and it can take some keen detective skills to find out where parcels need to go – playing Sherlock Holmes can take up a lot of time. The reception area tends to be a focal point for all staff and we are asked to perform many different tasks such as reporting maintenance issues, printing and photocopying. We will always help when we can and if we don’t know the answer to a question will try to find it out – again, more detective skills!
The role that the receptionists provide are critical to the smooth running to the hospital and provide a vital service to colleagues, patients and other visitors. We are always keen to improve the way we work and to understand more about the way in which different services work. If you are interested in learning more about the work we do please contact us.
I have first-hand experience that it is also possible with ambition and drive to be able to seek out further opportunities for development if admin staff are open and driven to progress further, regardless of previous experience or backgrounds. I have been fortunate to move forward working within the Infrastructure Team, collaborating on work with the Quality Teams and helping to provide another level of admin support which was not only beneficial to staff but also contributing to further patient care."
Heather Byrd
Heather Byrd is Wiltshire Health and Care’s Administration Manager & Incident Control Centre Coordinator. Heather manages 70 members of staff across specialist services, receptions and inpatient wards.
Heather said: “There is a huge breadth and depth of administration skills across the organisation and we work really hard to provide a high level of support to our clinical colleagues. Through working collaboratively we can help to ensure that our patients receive a high level of care. We get involved in a wide range of different activities such as making patient appointments, procurement of equipment, meeting and greeting visitors, ordering and distribution of stationery and helping to organise patient workshops and events. In short, we work hard to ensure that clinicians can be focused primarily on caring for their patients.
To be an excellent administrator takes a lot of different skills – including strong customer service skills, the ability to communicate clearly, remaining calm and composed and having a wide network of colleagues with whom you can share ideas and learning. One of my passions is to support people to grow and develop and since I have been at WHC I have been fortunate enough to work with many team members who have moved into new roles as a result of their hard work and their ability to adapt and grow as the organisation evolves and new opportunities become available.
I am proud to lead the Specialist Services Administrative Team and although not without its challenges, it certainly brings many rewards.”