As Northumbria Primary Care continues to grow, we understand the importance of embracing digital innovation. That’s why we’re excited to introduce Charlotte Burn as our new digital innovation lead. With a background in primary care across multiple teams within NPC, Charlotte has a depth of experience that means she understands the patient’s needs and their journey within our practices. Charlotte will work with our senior management team to improve our digital offering to patients by digitalising and streamlining processes, as well as identify and developing new opportunities.
We sat down with Charlotte to find out a bit about her background, how she’s grown with NPC and what she loves about her role.
Hi Charlotte, could you tell us a little bit about your background?
I was originally originally planning to go to university, but made a last-minute decision against it and became a business admin apprentice at Elsdon Avenue instead. After completing my apprenticeship, I was really fortunate to receive an offer of a permanent contract. I spent the next 3 years with the Elsdon Avenue team where I learnt pretty much everything I know now! It was a great practice to learn and the perfect environment to develop the skills I still use today.
Can you tell us a bit about your journey with NPC?
Whilst I was at Elsdon Avenue, the practice made the decision to join NPC. This gave me exposure to the clinical support unit (CSU), which was something that really interested me. Eventually an opportunity came up within that team and I was fortunate enough to be offered the job. This role gave me a tonne of insight in to medicine management and led me to consider becoming a pharmacy technician. In the end, I decided that I was more interested in management and was able to secure a position as the interim admin lead at Spring Terrace Health Centre. After honing my skills there, I was successful in applying for the senior admin lead role at Ponteland Medical Group.
Your move to senior admin lead sounds like a big step up. How did you find your time at Ponteland?
Moving to such a large practice was daunting at first. It was a step up in responsibility and a huge challenge for me, but I can honestly say that I loved every single second of it. Learning in such a fast-paced environment really helped me consolidate my skills and gave me invaluable life experience. I was really sad to leave the team at Ponteland, but when this opportunity came up, I knew it was the perfect role for me.
You’ve now moved into NPC’s new digital innovation lead role. What does that entail?
My role is going to focus on helping NPC to digitalise, modernise and standardise our services across the organisation in order to meet the ever-growing demand we’re faced with in primary care. We’re all aware of the hurdles that are in front of us, and we must become increasingly innovative with the ideas and processes that we decide to adopt. My role will play a key part in this process, helping to create solutions and oversee new digital projects that will improve patient care. Whilst it is different to my previous positions, it follows the theme of identifying a problem, finding a solution and implementing it in order to improve patient experience.
You’ve been in post for just over a month now. How’s it going?
It’s going great! I feel like I’ve been able to get so much done in such a short time. The fact that this is a brand new position within the organisation means that I can really make it my own. The team have been incredible supportive and I’m looking forward to see what’s in store for the future.
How can your role positively impact patients?
Although I’m not directly patient-facing, as I have been in previous positions, I believe my role is crucial to patients as it serves to improve our care offering and increase accessibility. I want to be able to make every contribution count by streamlining our processes and digitalising our access. There’s definitely less of an immediacy to the impact of my work now than when I was a senior admin lead, but I believe that it will be able to help patients stay healthier for longer and manage their own care more efficiently.
Why do you think NPC is a good place to work?
It’s an amazing place to grow. I started out as an apprentice and I’ve been able to forge my own path within the organisation. NPC values education and they actively encourage staff to improve their skillsets. I’m currently doing my NVQ level 3 in management and, once completed, I hope to move on to doing a degree.
NPC is also full of amazing, resilient and hardworking staff. All of our managers and leaders are people who I always look to learn from and I feel very fortunate for that experience.
Thanks Charlotte!
Are you interested in a career with Northumbria Primary Care? We’re always looking for talented and hard working clinicians to join our teams. Head over to the Working For Us page to find out more!
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