Thirty Years in the NHS

On Friday of last week it was 30 years since I first started working in the English NHS. Working for the National Health Service for that long has been an amazing journey. So many changes, so many reorganisations that I have lost count. I think I counted up to the 8th reorganisation and then decided that change was something to stop logging and instead to work out how to navigate. One of the key things I gained from my time working in the NHS was an interest in change management that led to me doing a PhD on the topic. It’s an ongoing obsession!

I joined the NHS back in February 1989, working at Fazakerley Hospital (now part of Aintree Trust) for what I intended to be a couple of years, to gain experience in the public sector. I was based in an old ward building on what had been the Fazakerley Sanatorium – an isolation hospital for infectious diseases.

I had come from spending 7 years in the charity sector and thought that I would just be passing through. I was wrong – there was so much to understand, so much to learn about, so many people to learn from. I’ve probably only left the slightest of marks on such a huge bureaucratic body, but it has never been anything other than exhilarating.

I’m more worried about its future now than at any time in the last 30 years. But I hold onto the fact that its workforce comprises a huge diversity of talent, massive commitment to serving the public, and a resilience even through a decade of austerity.

It’s a privilege to continue to work in the NHS, and I look forward to years more service, where I can do my small bit to ensure that the NHS survives, thrives and continues to be innovative and effective.