FMTS blog / ''I was given the responsibility to look after my own area''

I am now on the second year of the apprenticeship scheme, since being at Shropshire Community Health Trust I have moved to Stafford and Surrounds Clinical Commissioning Group in October.  My time here has seen me take up a corporate role and has given me the responsibility of looking after my own area. 

Having this responsibility has given me a lot more confidence and has significantly improved my decision making within finance.  In this role I have taken on tasks such as journals, payroll reconciliation, month end and year end procedures and forecasting.

Whilst being at Stafford and Surrounds CCG I have also been able to attend an audit committee and a governing body meeting. These meetings were very beneficial to attend as it showed me the kind of decisions the higher finance professionals have to make and how they come about these decisions. This kind of experience I feel is very unique to the scheme as it isn’t something a usual employee would get to experience. 

I have just under two months left at Stafford and Surrounds CCG before moving onto Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group. In my last two months I hope to complete an orientation by going to either a GP surgery or possibly traveling with an ambulance crew I’m hoping this experience will interlink the finance aspect to the real life purpose of the day to day running of the NHS.

In my studies I have now completed my Level 3 AAT in December and have recently started Level 4.  Having passed every exam in my Level 3 AAT first time I am hoping to replicate that with Level 4.

With the end of the apprenticeship scheme approaching I will aim to get onto the HFMA West Midlands Finance Graduate scheme and get a substantive role in the NHS for the time between the apprenticeship scheme and the graduate scheme.  Courses which I have attended with the HFMA such as a CV masterclass which taught how to compose a CV and how to deal with interviews, I hope will help me succeed in both of these ambitions.