Page 52 - RADC 2020

Teamwork makes the dream work:
my experience as DPHC SO2 PMC Standards
Maj V Brown
When I completed my most recent PPP there was a posting available for an SO2 in DPHC HQ with Primary Medical Care (PMC). I had already taken the opportunity to complete an 8-week staff placement
in this same team and loved it. Nearly 12 months on I have no regrets and really enjoy what I do.
But what do you actually do?
I get asked this a lot. Essentially my role
is to support the Assistant Head of Primary Medical Care/ Defence Advisor General Practice. Our team supports the DPHC RHQs and their Medical Centres. Nothing
to do with dentistry. I see and interact with DPHC Dental HQ on a lot of things: I can wave at them from my desk (sometimes they wave back), we share cake (often), but I am very much immersed in the medical world.
Having become the most poorly-manned team in DPHC HQ in 2019, the PMC team has been growing since I arrived: long- gapped posts are being filled, additional posts are being sourced. It’s a good time
to be in PMC. On a daily basis, I send a lot of emails, mess with a lot of spreadsheets and go to a lot of Skype meetings. It’s hard to make that sound exciting, but there you have it. I have been doing a lot of generic staff work- writing some issue notes, taking minutes, and records of decisions for various meetings, with varying (hopefully improving) standards of written work. At the time of writing this (in August 2020) my recent work has been heavily centred around COVID-19
PMC team decorating the desks for Christmas
and very much away from Coltman
House. In a recent project we initiated My Healthcare Hub and I now lead the team who run the site and keep it updated. The pace of work increased significantly when COVID-19 arrived and it’s been a busy few months, but our team has got A LOT done.
Why did you choose to do a staff job?
I was able to have the opportunity to
‘try before you buy’ on this one. Without that placement I would not have had the confidence to apply for a staff job. It felt a far cry from our ‘normal DO posts’ in DPHC Dental, but I fancied a change. During my placement, most of the time I didn’t know what was going on, what all the acronyms
meant, or who did what in Coltman House.
I gave it a good go nonetheless. At the time of my placement the entire team was female, including the OF5 (a RN Surg Capt), and it was a great team to be part of. I believe this was mostly down to impressive leadership from a smart woman who politely held her own in meetings and situations where her own brand of class was sorely needed. As ‘cringe’ as it might sound to some, it was inspiring to see such great female leadership within military healthcare.
Another reason I chose to do a clinical staff job was that I wanted a change. I enjoy dentistry but have a fair few years left in the Army and didn’t want to do the same sort of jobs on repeat for the rest of my career. In my opinion, that would be very dull. I’ve always loved a good opportunity and this was just another chance to do something different.
Do you enjoy it?
I love this job. I don’t love it every
single day, but I love it enough days to be content. I find what I do both challenging and rewarding in equal measures. My co-workers are amazing: we have a great team and that makes a difference; a solid team, attributable to good leadership, and consistent teamwork. The team is easily the best thing about the job. We have a laugh and genuinely like each other, which helps. During lock-down we have been having our team meetings on Zoom so we can see each other (we miss being in Coltman House together) and we have a different theme
PMC team Star Wars
50 RADC BULLETIN 2020
C&S JOBS