Team Insight – Martha Holt, Associate Consultant

A week in the life of a Associate Consultant

I joined the Transformation Unit in 2022 as part of the graduate training programme. I came from working within the NHS in an inpatient mental health setting and was familiar with some of the challenges faced by clinicians and patients, however this was my first experience being able to respond to those challenges through project work.

At the Transformation Unit, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects and programmes at local, regional and national levels. This has included helping to implement a Cheshire and Merseyside endoscopy transformation programme, producing a workforce development report for North-West Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm screening programmes, and supporting the complex disaggregation of services at North Manchester General Hospital.

Alongside my project work, I have a range of internal responsibilities including creating social media and website content, supporting our Corporate Social Responsibility activities, and coordinating the development of our TU offers and strategy.

Recently, my project work has focused on clinical redesign through several pathway mapping projects including leading the development of national pathway maps for the diagnosis and treatment of liver disease, and documenting several pathways for Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) across Greater Manchester to meet NHSE requirements for developing clinical pathways for CDCs. Having the opportunity to engage with clinical and operational stakeholders to design and develop clinical pathways is something I find particularly interesting and rewarding. Below, I’ve outlined a typical week in my life working in this area.

A typical week for Martha

Monday

• On Mondays, I like to start by planning for the week ahead. This week, I am coming to the end of the engagement phase of a project to design a national pathway for the treatment of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) so plan my work around several interviews with key stakeholders. I check my emails and arrange some additional interviews with clinicians who have responded over the weekend.
• At 11am, I attend a check-in call with colleagues about our weekends and plans for the work week ahead. This is a great opportunity to catch up with colleagues who I don’t work with closely on project work and support each other with capacity when needed.
• In the afternoon, I meet with the MASLD project team where we share key findings from interviews we held in the previous week and make final arrangements for the upcoming calls. We also assigned initial actions for beginning to document our findings in the pathway maps and final report.
• I finish the day by finalising the papers for an internal strategy meeting taking place the following week.

Tuesday

• Today I’m working from the office. I start the morning with a team meeting for a project where we are documenting several pathways for Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) across Greater Manchester to meet NHSE requirements for developing clinical pathways for CDCs. As we are working on separate pathways, we use this time to update each other on progress, catch up on overall project actions and share information and advice. I am in the process of documenting the pathways for sleep apnoea and heart failure within the CDC.
• I spend the rest of the morning writing up the heart failure pathway document using information from a meeting with clinicians held the previous week. I create pathway maps and draft detailed supporting information and referral criteria and share this with the clinical group for their review.
• At 12:30, I walk to the shop with a colleague to catch-up over lunch.
• In the afternoon, I attend our internal Business Development Huddle to understand potential upcoming work, followed by an interview with a Principal Investigator for a clinical trial for one of the potential future MASLD treatments.

Wednesday

• Wednesday is my most meeting-heavy day this week, so I decide to work from home. I log on slightly earlier than usual to respond to any emails and prepare in advance of my first meeting at 9am. I spend most of my morning in stakeholder interviews with hepatologists and GPs for the MASLD project.
• At lunchtime, I get away from my desk and take my dog for a walk around the local park.
• In the afternoon, I have two more stakeholder interviews and finish the day off by tidying up the notes from these calls and reflecting on the additional pathway details and current and future challenges in the area, which will help to inform the pathway maps and final report.

Thursday

• I arrive at the office at around 9am. With most of the stakeholder engagement complete, I set aside most of the day to create pathway maps for the potential treatments for MASLD. I follow our internal pathway mapping methodology to create clear, consistent maps outlining both the current clinical trial pathways and the potential future applications. I annotate these with key findings from the engagement sessions, checking in regularly with colleagues involved in the project to ensure their reflections are incorporated.
• In the afternoon, I take a break from these deliverables to meet with our internal Social Media team to plan and schedule content for the following weeks and review our engagement on recent posts.  

Friday

• Our Fridays start with a team meeting where we receive a short corporate update from a member of our leadership team followed by a quick update on how our weeks have been and any exciting weekend plans.
• I spend the rest of the morning conducting desktop research into current sleep apnoea diagnostics including examples of best practice pathways for diagnosis through CDCs.
• I use Friday afternoon to finish the remaining tasks from my weekly list and follow up with emails. I update the project documentation for both projects and send an update on my progress to my delivery leads before logging off for the weekend.

For more information on the NHS Transformation Unit
E: transformationunit@nhs.net
W: https://transformationunit.nhs.uk/
L: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transformationunit/