Leaving IPO, joining NHS England

My first week on NHSE's record a vaccination service.

Joining NHS England

I joined the RAVS (record a vaccination service) team at NHS England (NHSE) this week. Working on a contract via TPX Impact. Shout out to Frankie and others for helping me to settle in. It's great to be joining a team with some familiar faces!

I'm excited to be working with NHSE, both my parents work in healthcare, one is a pharmacist and the other is a health visitor (previously a midwife). Both roles are close to vaccinations which is a helpful coincidence. Although they work in Wales so I'm assuming they won't use RAVS. Healthcare in Wales is devolved, but I'm guessing it's not a neat division, especially near the border where patients and workers live, work and receive treatment across both countries. Let's see!

The overall aim of RAVS is to increase vaccination uptake by making it easier for healthcare workers to record (and view) vaccination events.

I'm hoping my experience working on NHS Test and Trace will come in useful too. Back then I was working on the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency) side, so not really within NHSE. But it looks like the 2 organisations are continuing to work together on vaccination campaigns.

My first week went well. I've had a few calls to introduce myself to the team. Starting with the UCD (user-centred design) people, next week I'll go wider to more technical, product and assurance roles. I've been reading various things, including about a year's worth of posts from the excellent design history.

I've been joining stand-ups and I even got a chance to observe a research session on day 2 of my contract, which has to be a personal best. Thanks to the team for helping me to do that.

I don't have access to all the systems yet which is to be expected, but always a bit frustrating. Hopefully next week!

Opportunities

Here are some initial opportunities or ideas I can see from my early conversations and observations…

  • Get access to all the tools, for example, email, Slack, GitHub.
  • Work with both RAVS teams to help ensure consistency and clarity across the end-to-end journey and a shared understanding. For example, as more clinical settings are added the navigation options may get more complex.
  • Get a better understanding of the phase and scope of the current work, as well as the outcomes and KPIs we are working towards.
  • Both teams have some upcoming deadlines, I'll be looking to see if there are ways that I can help them to meet those.
  • Work in the open, even if it's just to help other NHSE teams gain awareness of the work.
  • Meet and work with other teams like the NHSE app team and the MYA (manage your appointments) team. Get invited to show and tells, and UCD meetings happening in the wider program.
  • Contribute to the NHSE design system.

Leaving IPO

My last day at IPO (Intellectual Property Office) was on Monday. I was sad to leave the design community and my delivery team.

I was proud to have played a part in the launch of their new patents service.

Wishing them all the best as they enter phase 2 of IPO's transformation.

Life

A selfie of the top of my head as I walk up a hill away from a caravan site near the beach.

My weekends have been busy recently which is one of the reasons I haven't been blogging much.

Last weekend I did the Gower Peninsula Mighty Hike half marathon. It was a lot more difficult than I expected! It took us 6 hours to do 25k. My knees were not happy with me.

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