Sarah O’Shaughnessy, one of the project officers in our team, talks about her role and what she enjoys about the job. It’s all about the people!

I started working with the Living Well in Communities (LWiC) team at the end of July, having been project officer with the Mental Health Improvement Team in the six months before that. I have been working at Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) for two and a half years.

The thing that I really enjoy about my job is working with people. Some of my favourite experiences since starting with the LWiC Team five months ago have been engaging with stakeholders. This might be in person or over the phone, discussing how they can put their skills together and achieve the goal of improving the lives of people in Scotland.

At the moment one of my main pieces of work if the Living and Dying Well with Frailty Collaborative. I am responsible for supporting my colleagues and the teams in the west. I am gradually getting to know the teams and really enjoy the opportunities I get to speak with team members more. From my point of view, the better I know the teams, the better I can support them. What I like to know is how people like to be communicated with? Do they prefer a phone call or an email, do they like reminders, do they use Twitter, how do they find using the Knowledge Hub? If you are one of the people in these teams, please feel free to get in touch and let me know how I can communicate with you more effectively!

I have recently started working with some of my colleagues on our anticipatory care planning (ACP) documentation. This has been quite a steep learning curve for me, but it has been fascinating. I am particularly enjoying seeing how ACP can be used to support work across Health and Social Care Partnerships, and we have had some invaluable feedback on how it is currently being used and how it could be used better in future.

While I am finding both projects interesting, the thing that I am really enjoying is the people. The passion and the knowledge of the people I work with, both within and outside of HIS, never ceases to amaze me. In the last few months I have learned so much because of people around me and the opportunities that I have been given.

My hope is that my learning will continue and that people will continue to let me engage with them. I would love to hear back from people about what interests them about the work they do, if you are someone I engage with, let me know how I can do this better too! If you are on Twitter my handle is @SarahOShaughne3 Feel free to follow me, especially if you like the occasional update on the Glasgow Warriors!