I am currently Executive PA to the CEO, Chairman and Director of Finance which involves a lot of diary and meeting management as these individuals work very hard, our Chairman is also chairman to a neighbouring hospital which necessitates a lot of coordination between me and his PA at the other Trust to ensure he meets all his obligations for both trusts.

My CEO operates an open door policy and likes to speak to staff at all levels regularly which means a lot of juggling around shift patterns etc. This is a highly confidential role and I am a valued part of the Executive team.

I supervise the executive team PAs which means I coordinate annual leave and cover. I am working hard to make the team work smarter not harder, collaborate more and support each other. I am a PHE trained Loggist for major incidents and am very proud to be a Mental Health First Aider for the Trust.

Over the course of my career I have always worked in either the public sector or the charity sector, both of which have been equally interesting and valuable. I have worked my way up from Administration Assistant to C Suite PA and now have over 10 years experience at this level. 1 am very proud of what I have achieved – the majority of my CPD and training has been self-funded; I am a member of EPAA and have been since the Association was founded and in June 2019 I became one of the first cohort to be awarded Practitioner status to reflect my commitment to the role and the CPD required to stay at the top of my game. I am passionate about the difference a good PA can make to an executive – you should be a second pair of eyes, ears and hands, a second brain, a confidante, a sounding board and a supporter. You can enable your exec to be the best they can be and allow them to lead while you manage.

I love my job because every day is different, I cover a lot of meetings and diary management but alongside that I can be dealing with research, projects, compliments coming into the trust, complaints and visitors ranging from patients to politicians and everything in between. As a PA you have to be 2 steps ahead and anticipate the needs of your execs as an NHS PA you have to be ready to deal with anything from lost property in the hospital to, complaints about parking and patients and visitors who have got lost on their way somewhere! I have also been involved in organising major events including AGMs, conferences and award ceremonies.

I work hard and I love my job – I like helping people and using my skills to help them be their best, I am a completer finisher which means I like to see a project through to the end and the impact it has.