6 Months of full-time work!

16th February - 20th February 2015 & 23rd February - 27th February 2015

Week 24/25 marks six months of being on placement at the CCG! I can't believe how quickly the past few months have gone and how welcome every member of staff has made me feel! I have learnt an incredible amount about the NHS and the healthcare sector and I have gained a number of skills which will be extremely useful during the final year of my Degree. I am now looking forward to working towards the end of the financial year with the Finance and Contracts Team and the next 5/6 months of working before I return to student life!

Over the past two weeks, I have continued to work alongside the Finance Team; coding invoices, checking invoices against predicted data for payment and I have also been chasing invoices from local providers for the schemes which have been funded as part of the winter implementation plan.

I have also had the opportunity to gain more experience within HR (Human Resources). At the CCG, in the Business Team, we are looking to recruit a new Quality Improvement Manager who will be responsible for supporting the development of processes and structures that will improve quality of care and safeguard patients. Along with my manager, we have created a job description and person specification, ready for the vacancy to be advertised online. I have enjoyed being part of the recruitment process within the NHS and the skills I have developed will be extremely beneficial when studying Strategic Human Resource Management when I return to University in September.

On Thursday, I was given the responsibility of checking the NCA (Non-Contract Activity) invoices on our online system against the data from SUS (Secondary Uses Data) which is a healthcare database which allows staff to anaylse a range of data, run off reports and access predicted invoice amounts for certain healthcare treatments that are performed out of our area. I have gone through the process of coding invoices (which is a regular day-to-day task) to then comparing the amount from SUS against the actual amount shown on the invoice, a variance is then provided which can be queried with the provider if there is a significant difference. Once the NCA invoices have been checked against the predicted data, they are then sent to the appropriate member of the Finance Team for payment.