“If you get the opportunity to come work at NECS or the Consultancy team, go for it! You’ll work with a team of ambitious and, most importantly, caring and supportive colleagues.”
Rachael Espie joined the NECS Consultancy team in January 2021 after switching from a legal career.
“I’ve been a consultant for over two years, working in the North East regional Consultancy team. I joined as a Junior Consultant in January 2021, then eight months later, I was promoted to Consultant.
“Prior to joining NECS, I studied Law at Northumbria University, completing my Legal Practice Course (LPC), Masters and Training Contract and qualified as a solicitor in 2019. During this time, I specialised in family, criminal and clinical negligence law.
“Working within the legal sector was challenging and interesting work, providing a foundational knowledge of the legislation surrounding health and care and many transferrable skills that I will take with me throughout my future career. However, during my time working in clinical negligence, it helped me realise that it was my passion to work in healthcare. So, I decided a career change was right for me.
“What first attracted me to NECS was its values and excellent reputation for how it treats people. Everyone’s desire and commitment to ensuring that NECS is a happy and fulfilling workplace for all staff was very important to me. Secondly, the customer ownership model adopted by NECS and our reinvestment into the communities that we serve is hugely rewarding. It’s been amazing seeing how our communities benefit from the hard work that we do.
“The transition of careers was seamless. When I joined NECS, I was provided with a buddy for support, but from the outset, I felt comfortable to contact anyone from across all of the regional consultancy teams for support or guidance. My line manager made every effort to ensure that I felt welcomed into the team straight away.
“I am co-lead of the Reward and Recognition workstream, helping to ensure that NECS Consultancy rewards and recognises its people in a way that is valuable and meaningful to them, and deputy chair of the Emerging Consultants Working Group which I find very rewarding.
“NECS offers a wealth of internal training courses – so far I’ve completed bid writing training, project management, resilience and presentation skills among others. NECS Consultancy has designed a bespoke consultancy skills training programme, ensuring that we have all of the tools, knowledge and insights that we need to deliver a consistently high quality service to our clients.
“I have never worked for an organisation that places such an emphasis on supporting career progression. I have benefited from both coaching and mentoring support during my time at NECS, enabling me to determine and realise my career goals.
“The senior leadership team within NECS Consultancy operates an ‘open door’ policy, encouraging and valuing contributions from all members of the team, no matter your level of experience. This has meant that I’ve had opportunities to contribute to challenging work and develop skills that I didn’t think I would experience until far later in my consultancy career.
“The highlight in working for NECS for me has been providing consultancy support to reduce waiting list backlogs following the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were able to appreciate the scale of the impact we had and the number of long waiting patients who had now received treatment who otherwise would still be waiting. It’s one of my proudest achievements in my career to date and being able to celebrate with colleagues as finalists at the MCA Awards 2022 was an incredible experience.
“If you get the opportunity to come work at NECS or the Consultancy team, go for it! I promise you won’t regret it! I can wholeheartedly say that I never thought it would be possible to take so much enjoyment from my job. You’ll have the opportunity to work with a team of ambitious and most importantly, caring and supportive colleagues. The health and wellbeing of our teams is placed at the heart of how we operate.
“If you are considering one of our vacancies, there is always someone within the team who would be happy to have a chat. I only wish I had found a career in NECS Consultancy sooner.”