A graduate who has spent two years developing her skills at Black Country Healthcare is preparing for the next stage of her career following the successful completion of her training scheme.
Hannah Blakiston is coming to the end of her placement with the Estates and Facilities team, where she has worked for the past two years as part of the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme.
During her time in the Black Country, Hannah has played a key role in the Estates and Facilities team where she has honed her skills in managing and developing sites at the Trust, including supporting the refurbishment of Edward Street Hospital.
Her work has culminated in recently being invited to speak at a leadership forum at the Healthcare, Estates and Facilities and Management Association (HEFMA), which represents estates and facilities professionals working in the NHS. It was an opportunity for Hannah to network, learn from industry experts and share her experience of being a young person starting out her career in Estates and Facilities.
She shared her reflections on what she has learned during her time in the Black Country and how people starting out their careers in Estates and Facilities can be supported and encouraged.
Hannah said: “Being invited to speak was a huge confidence boost, it made me realise I do belong and have something to say.
“As well has technical knowledge, they also focussed on softer leadership skills, such as the importance of care and being kind to others.
“Whether you are beginning or decades into your career, we can always be kind.”
It was this focus on values that has inspired her time at Black Country Healthcare, where she credits the support and mentorship of her colleagues as one of the highlights of the graduate programme.
Hannah explained: “The connections I have with the people around me, especially in the team I work with very closely, have been a real highlight. We get along well and we all just care.
“There's never been a person that I've gone to and I've said, ‘can you explain this to me?’ that's not then helped me. The amount of people who are doing their day-to-day job and they think, ‘oh, this is an interesting experience that doesn't come around often. I'll pop Hannah a message and see if she wants to sit in.’
“The amount of mentorship and the community that I've been welcomed into has been really brilliant.”
Her time at Black Country Healthcare ends on a full-circle moment, as she is working on the final stages of the refurbishment and reopening of Edward Street Hospital. Her first project when she joined the Trust involved supporting the moving out of patients when the work began.
Hannah said: “Supporting the Edward Street project has been another highlight. It is going to be such a great space for people to get well in and it is exactly what our patients need.
“You want it to feel like a place that's welcoming and is for you. Now that we're starting to get that feedback through it kind of feels worth it all, the blood, sweat and tears.”
With a background in chemistry, a career in Estates and Facilities was not an obvious career path for Hannah. She chose to pursue the area as she enjoyed the mix of technical knowledge with working with people, and she knew she wanted to work at a mental health Trust. Out of the 250 graduates in her cohort nationally, she is the only one to have pursued their placement within Estates and Facilities.
Looking back at her time in the Black Country, Hannah said: “I think the three main skills I’ve learned are communication; the importance of taking time to build relationships and having a learning attitude. If you go into every situation ready to learn, you take away so much and it sets you on the right path.”
Following the completion of her training at the end of August, Hannah will be taking on a permanent role at the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, but she will always look back on her time in the Black Country with fondness.
Hannah added: “I think that what we've got at Black Country Healthcare is special and I’ve felt really welcomed in it.”