Jonathan Millward

I started in the role of Apprentice Business Support Manager at The University of Sheffield’s University Health Service on 1st January 2020 having worked for two and a half years as a Data Quality Administrator. My Apprenticeship encompasses all aspects of Practice Management to put me on firm footing to progress into that field in the future.

Working in General Practice, and in particular General Practice Management, during the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a wealth of unique learning opportunities, the main one being my leading on facilitating staff working from home, some who were already self-isolating or socially distancing at the time. This has involved communicating with all Practice staff to ascertain what home-working functionality they already had in place (PC’s, laptops, VPN access, etc.), liaising with both the University and Sheffield CCG to procure laptops or re-image laptops we already had, planning and facilitating the retrieval, setup and distribution of said laptops and VPN access, training staff in the use of the equipment and acting as first-line troubleshooting and point of contact for any user issues that arose. All of these objectives needed to be fulfilled on an ever-shortening timescale as more staff would need to self-isolate/socially distance as time progressed.

Alongside allowing me to exhibit my abilities and previous experience in the realm of IT, the experience has been and remains invaluable in helping me learn the importance of prioritising tasks and responsibilities, as well as the vital role communication and collaboration plays in reaching and achieving goals and objectives and managing people’s expectations.