Melissa Mayo

Melissa Mayo - Operational Support Officer – Referral Management Centre

Typical day for myself would be supporting the day to day running of the RMC and our staff. We have approx. 35 staff within our department with a mixture of clinic clerks and coordinators for a vast range of services within WVT.

My main role is to ensure the smooth running of the RMC each day – From workloads, short notice support, processes and also validation into our services PTL’s (2ww, urgent and routine).

Having joined the trust in 2016 as a clinic clerk in the RMC, I was always inspired by Mum who was a HCA for 18 years before she switched to admin in 2022.

Enjoying my role and with a keen approach to wanting to progress, after 12 months as a clerk I was successful in gaining a secondment for 3 months to be a clinical coordinator within the RMC.

This enabled me to expand on my knowledge and learn the next step in patient access and outpatients.

After the 3 month secondment I was again successful at interview in gaining a permanent clinic coordinator position, which I carried out for 4 years as the coordinator for Urology and Neurology.

I played a small part in the transition within Urology service where we were able to secure the Urology Diagnostic centre (old diabetic centre) and offer patients a one stop clinic where patients were able to be reviewed, investigated for their symptoms and a diagnosis much quicker, thus reducing the wait for things such as cancer diagnosis.

I am immensely proud of this achievement and working very close with the Urology team, they now offer such a fantastic service to our county and surrounding areas.

In September 2022 I was successful once again and I am now the Operational Support Officer for the RMC. Gaining such an insight into the day to day running of the RMC and putting myself forward for all tasks and

Helping others develop within the RMC is one part of what motivates me.

The other side to this is the patient aspect of things, always wanting to make each patients experience the best and driven by our care values as a trust.

I would say you need to be understanding, sympathetic, organised, motivated and also supportive -  With the fast paced environment we work in, things can go from normal day to day and the next everything needs to done at short notice – This can range from clinic cancellations and staff sickness as an example.

Remaining calm and figuring out the best plan for all to carry out as a team and ensuring all tasks are complete to highest possible level is something I thrive on.

The best part of the job for me is knowing the amazing work we do as a team in the RMC, ensuring all patients have that best experience regardless of the referral type and urgency – we treat everyone with the same and It’s lovely to hear how grateful patients are that we made the first part of their NHS journey relaxed, informative and they will get the best care possible.

I am very proud to be a part of the outpatient department and each member of the team are fantastic.

I would encourage anyone to apply for the NHS and work within the health care sector – The feeling you get when you know you have helped someone’s family member in their journey and to get their health back on track is such a fulfilling feeling.

Our management team are very supportive and I would say this is one of the best departments to be a part of within WVT.