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Sam Fleet, NHS External Communications Officer
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ersonal admiration for the people he would be working with and the perfect set of skills came together when Sam Fleet landed his communications job at The Walton Centre in Liverpool. Sam, from Shropshire, graduated in 2010 and initially did not see the NHS as somewhere he would fit into with his journalist training but when he wanted to explore a new role and saw a chance to showcase some brilliant healthcare providers he didn’t look back. “I had never expected to end up in the NHS but I’ve always admired those medical professionals who do all the amazing work to care for patients, so it’s a great feeling to work alongside them and promote the great work that happens there. Being able to promote their work is a particular highlight.”
This has given him the chance to develop his skills and work to new strengths. Instead of responding to breaking news stories, he’s now planning longer campaigns and writing positive news stories that can be used on the NHS website to promote its work. What surprised him most is the amount of innovation he has seen
happen around him. Despite the ongoing challenging financial situation for the NHS he is still able to tell positive and inspiring stories. He said: “The lasting skill I gained from my degree at LJMU was people skills. Without my people skills I wouldn’t be in the career I am today.”
Leo Stevens, NHS Clinical Commissioning Group
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or journalists, the move to communications is almost like jumping over the fence. This was a jump that graduate Leo Stevens was happy to make. After nine years at the Press Association he went in search of a role in the public sector, somewhere specifically where people’s lives were being improved. That’s when he found himself as a part of a NHS Clinical Commissioning Group. “For me, the NHS personifies this and so I sought about researching where within the NHS I
could put my skills to good use.” Leo must navigate the tricky world of communicating ‘dry’ commission health initiatives in an engaging way to reach his audiences but he loves the challenge. It has made him learn to write in a persuasive way to make reluctant journalists get behind the stories he’s pitching to them. He sees himself in the bigger picture now, working in an organisation that hires about 1.5 million people in the UK and enjoys the relationships he must build and maintain in order to get his job done effectively.