Inspiring People: Tracey Gianolio Jones #NHS70

On 5^th July 2018, the NHS turned 70. At Real Public Sector, we’re proud to have worked with so many skilled people who’ve contributed great value to the service.  

To celebrate the 70^th birthday, we spoke with some of the inspiring people we’ve partnered with over the years to discover how the work they do with the NHS every day offers them real purpose.

Meet Tracey

Tracey Gianolio Jones is a Director/Nurse Consultant, currently working with CHC and also developing her skills as a Non-Executive Director who works with the NHS on a contract basis. While we may have only started working with her 4 years ago, she’s had a long and interesting career within the NHS. This is her story, in her own words.

My career with the NHS

Back in 1983 I started working with the NHS as a student and then four years later qualified as a learning disability nurse. When I started my career I was working in hospitals, then in the community which was impacted by the Community Care Act. I became a staff nurse for people with learning disabilities. Throughout my career I was promoted to various posts and developed in my role through managing a range of different tasks, leading to a colourful career within the NHS.

Over the years, the NHS has been constantly changing, which lead to a lot of different opportunities and chances to impact various aspects of the organisation. I began to manage bigger teams, allowing me to develop services and staffing opportunities, which grew to become a huge passion of mine. I also became a budget holder and managed HR processes, which enabled me to qualify as an associate for HR. Over the years, these experiences allowed me to gain lots of additional skills, meaning I was able to assist the service in a more versatile way.

A Career with Purpose

A lot of the work I’ve undertaken over the years has involved developing various services. I’ve worked & developed services for audit and quality, which is a very integral part of the NHS, as this ultimately leads to better care. With some of the projects I’ve been involved in, I’ve managed to save the NHS a great deal of money, and it’s incredibly satisfying to be able to help and save money which can be spent more appropriately and essentially support more individuals and services.

One of the things that’s extremely satisfying is the coaching and mentoring element of the work I’ve done. I’ve been able to work with staff members and nurses to enhance their skills, and enable them to grow in their careers. Some of them were also given the opportunity to gain various recognised qualifications. This part of the job benefited both the wider function of the NHS and also these individuals personally, which is extremely satisfying for me.

One of my most striking memories was travelling to the USA to gain an insight into the services for people with learning disabilities. The aim of this project was to share information that each country could take away. It was a great opportunity to meet professionals from the USA, but also to build connections with my UK colleagues. Together, we were able to acquire a lot of information and use this to further develop our own services.

Working with Real Public Sector

After leaving the NHS as a permanent employee in 2014, I was unsure as to what my next step should be. It was then that former colleagues suggested I get in touch with Real Public Sector; the team immediately found a role to suit me. I was offered a position in Liverpool, which was quite a big jump for me; leaving the NHS after 31 years is a big thing, let alone taking on a job so far away. Sonam and Grace, who were looking after me, were brilliant. They were enthusiastic, encouraging and extremely positive. They organised all processes to get me ready to work in Liverpool and were always on hand whenever there were any troubles.

I have to say that throughout the years, Real Public Sector have opened up some great opportunities for me and given me confidence I never thought I had. I recently spoke at a conference for Real, which I never thought I’d be able to do. The confidence and support I was offered has been overwhelming and I’m now training to become a Non-Executive Director, something I would never have had the confidence to do without Real.

What the NHS means to me

I think the NHS is a fantastic service that’s truly unique around the world and is filled with extremely dedicated people. Yes, it’s had its own difficulties, financial and otherwise, but we have an incredible service in place. We hear a lot of negatives about what the NHS doesn’t achieve, but overall it’s an amazing organisation. If we didn’t have the NHS then I believe we would be a very sad and lost country. The UK has an extremely large, multi-cultural population, full of people with different needs, and we’re lucky enough in the UK to have a service in place that caters for all of us.