At OneMedical Group, we support our team members with training opportunities and encourage them to pursue career journeys that best fit their unique skills, interests and aspirations.

In our Career Spotlight series, you can read about the rewarding careers and achievements of the people who work here, and how we help them develop to do their best work. Find out what they do in their day-to-day role, how working for OneMedical Group has shaped their career and the positive impact they have on their local communities.

This time, we caught up with Livia to discover how he chose the path he is on today.

Tell us a bit about your background and experience.

When I first came to the NHS, I wanted to be a nurse or a paramedic, so I did a year’s worth of nurse training at University but realised that the clinical path wasn’t for me. So I started as a receptionist in a GP surgery. From there, I worked as a Reception Supervisor for about nine years, when I went back to University to do something completely unrelated!

After that, I took an Administration Manager post. They had never had a manager before, so it involved implementing that role. I did a lot of transformation work, including merging four sites into one and linking many different ways of working into one smooth model.

My degree is in Criminology (working with victims of sexual violence). Much of that has been transferable because it’s given me a good skill set to work with and understand people in the care environment.

Tell us more about the move from Primary Care to Urgent Care within OneMedical Group.

It was a situational move, and something I definitely wanted to experience. I worked for 13 years in Primary Care and that’s always been my background. When the opportunity came up, I decided to go for it.

What do you like most in your current role?

There are lots and new and different things to learn. A lot of the work is overlapping, still delivering essential Primary Care services. So it’s exciting to see how it works from a different perspective outside of GPs delivering routine care.

It’s really interesting to look at how demand affects things, how you have to make fast-paced decisions to reflect the needs you’ve got coming through the door and how you manage your team. You constantly have to adapt and change, so that’s been a big learning curve.

It’s been a really good experience to come into it with OneMedical Group. That’s given me a slight advantage because I know how the Group works, the team and the processes. So it’s been good for me to focus solely on learning to work in a different environment.

What do you wish people knew about your job?

Considering my background in Reception many years ago, I wish patients knew and understood that our non-clinical colleagues ask questions to ensure that you are seen by the right person at the right time – which in turn helps reduce the number of times a patient needs to be seen, increasing availability in the long run for other patients.

Also, you don’t necessarily need to see a GP to get the care you need. Many skilled clinicians are available: Nurse Practitioners, Physician Associates, Physiotherapists, Pharmacists, Paramedics and so on.

What does a typical day look like?

There isn’t a typical day in Urgent Care! There definitely is in Primary Care, where you have a vague idea of what you need to do. Whereas in Urgent Care, it is dealing with whatever comes through the door on that day. I think that’s been one of the most exciting things about it – you just never know what your day will look like and there is no pattern.

What is your biggest accomplishment at OneMedical Group?

I started working for the Group at St Thomas Road Surgery as a Business Manager in February 2022. I am proud I could continue the brilliant work the management team had put into place, as well as taking it further.

What do you want to achieve in the future?

Primary Care is what I always loved the most, but it’s very interesting moving into Urgent Care because there’s going to be a massive amalgamation of the two services. That’s how I visualise it and I’m very excited to be involved in the transformation of care moving forward.

I’ve always been very invested in how primary care is going to look in the future, and now I have knowledge that I can use to improve both primary and urgent care.

I’ve also completed the Mary Seacole Leadership Programme. My next steps would be to complete the Rosalind Franklin Programme or Elizabeth Garret Anderson Programme to work towards getting my MSc in Healthcare Leadership once my children are older.

What advice would you give to someone coming into your job?

You need an open mind and buckets full of flexibility. You need to be innovative and react quickly to change, with a strong ability to see the many shades of grey within all situations.

It can be a challenging and demanding job at times but knowing you’ve made a difference to someone somewhere at the end of the day makes it worthwhile.

Make sure you don’t miss your next job opportunity at OneMedical Group and click here to visit our Career page.

For more information about career opportunities and our amazing benefits, or if you want to send your CV, please get in touch with our recruitment team at recruitment@onemedicalgroup.co.uk.