GMTS trainee Will tells us all about his Graduate Management Training Scheme (GMTS) journey

I started the GMTS in September 2021, on the General Management Scheme, based at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust. I found the scheme somewhat by accident, when researching the NHS STP, and thought it would suit me really well. I was also very keen to work in the healthcare, and in particular the NHS.

The application process is highly competitive, and as with a lot of grad schemes, can feel quite lengthy. However, the process was not unenjoyable. The focus of the recruitment is about your potential and how well you will match with the NHS, particularly around your values and approach. The subject or institution of your undergraduate degree is not a factor, beyond the requisite 2:2 grade. For example, I studied Natural Sciences, specialising in some niche aspect of maths that has nothing to do with healthcare or leadership, and I know other GMTS trainees from just about every degree background you can imagine.

 The advice I would give to aspiring applicants is two-fold. Firstly, do your research: familiarise yourself with a brief history of the NHS, NHS values, the NHS Long Term Plan, recent news articles about the context in which the NHS currently sits etc. The Kings Fund website is a great place to start. Secondly, ask yourself the important questions: why are you applying for this grad scheme, why do you want to work in the NHS specifically, what makes you a good fit for the NHS, what experience and skills do you have that are relevant to the NHS and compassionate leadership etc. This is what will be useful for both the application process, and also making sure you will enjoy what is a challenging recruitment process and grad scheme. I think this is what I would have liked to have known before applying: that it's about you and what you are capable of, not your academic record or professional experience (of which I had none!)

 The scheme placements vary between trainees, even within each of the six specialisms (General Management, HR, Finance, Health Informatics, Health Analytics, Policy & Strategy). For General Management, there are broadly four parts over the two years. Firstly, a four week onboarding period: 'orientation', where you will have the opportunity to tour your placement organisation (this might be a local acute trust, an ICS, a mental health trust etc.), and generally experience what goes on in the NHS. For example, during my orientation, I watched a robotic surgical procedure, I visited a local mental health hospital, spent a Friday night in ED, and loads more. After that, you begin your first placement, which is roughly 11 months long. This is usually an operational placement where trainees have hands-on experience of being an NHS leader. My placement was split, upon negotiation with my placement manager, between gastroenterology and ED, as these between them included a broad range of operational facets. It was really eye-opening, and I couldn't believe what I'd learned and managed to achieve by the end.

 At the beginning of year two (the timings will vary slightly between trainees), trainees do a 'flexi-placement', which is a self-guided, two-month placement that you can do just about anywhere where you can justify you will gain useful experience. For me, an interest in global health took me to THET, a global health partnerships charity, where I gained a completely different perspective on healthcare, researching international migration and recruitment of health workers to the UK, supporting the THET annual conference, with attendees from over 30 countries, and writing and presenting a report for the board of trustees (all within two months!) This placement obviously varies greatly between trainees, but the opportunity to pursue an external placement that is of specific interest to you is a great chance to learn and experience something complementary to your NHS placements. The scheme then concludes with a final (10 month) placement which is typically more strategic, which gives a nice balance between operational and strategic work. I have just started this final placement, so can't say much about what I've done, but I will be working in the planning team in the Trust, working on business planning for the next financial year, trying to improve our approach to public health and prevention, and also disseminating global and national health policy and guidance to inform decision making within the Trust.

On top of the day-to-day placements, trainees' complete educational elements of the scheme. These include an academic qualification, Action Learning Sets, and Experiential Learning. There's a lot going on, you definitely won't be bored. It can be a challenge to juggle all these aspects, especially if a busy time in your placement coincides with academic deadlines, but I've found what makes this doable is the great network of other trainees that exist. Every challenge you face, likely many others have experienced something similar and lots of trainees' remark that this support network is one of their favourite aspects of the scheme.

The scheme is a great experience and is potentially a springboard to a great start to a healthcare leadership journey, but it equally isn't for everyone. The scheme is a fast-track scheme, so expectations are high, and trainees are expected to take on responsibility and be resilient to set backs. However, the work is extremely rewarding, and being a part of such a large and unique organisation as the NHS is special.

My main take-away from working in the NHS is simply that it's all about people. We hear a lot that patients are the priority, and whilst they are, we have to include the people who deliver the healthcare, because without them, there isn't any healthcare for those patients. Things don’t happen automatically, and progress hinges on successful relationships with colleagues who have enormously diverse backgrounds, current roles and perspectives.

I've been amazed by the people I've worked with, from ED nurses still smiling and being positive after a long, gruelling shift, to the time senior leaders are willing to give back to people like us at the beginning of our journeys. It’s surprisingly hard to relate what it's like on the scheme, as every day is so different, and like all jobs, it has its ups and downs, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on the scheme, have learned more than I could have imagined and look forward to what it equips me to do next.