CMDA (Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship) in Health and Social Care Business Management

Kate Myatt Assistant Divisional Director of Nursing, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust University of Bolton

At the time of enrolment on the BSc (Hons) Business Management: Health and Social Care (top-up) (Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship) or CMDA I had been working in a senior nursing role for around five years, with the last 15 years working within the health and social care economy. I had carried out a variety of different roles, predominantly in a clinical Management and Leadership role. My role as Matron has supported improved outcomes on quality, patient safety and governance as well as operationally managing services. However, at my yearly personal development plan meeting I identified that I wanted to enhance and develop my professional knowledge and skills in these areas. The key areas I wanted to focus on included having a greater understanding of how to lead and manage people, teams and services. I also wanted to gain knowledge of how to successfully manage projects and quality improvements, how a project moves through planning and design stages, and how to monitor the outcomes. I have a love for Governance as well, and wanted to learn about risk management models and reporting, risk benefit analysis and the health and safety implications poor risk management can have on organisations. The apprenticeship has provided me with a range of professional knowledge and skills that I now use in my everyday practice. This includes operational management, project management, leading and managing people, change management, risk management, innovation and other areas of management. I feel much more confident in K

I feel that by applying my newly attained professional knowledge and skills, I have a different style of management and believe that I am a more effective leader. I have spent time gaining a really good understanding of my team members by identifying individual’s strengths and weaknesses and taking these into account when actions need completing, and I feel that this has resulted in a higher performing team. The course also gave me the confidence to explore different professional opportunities. I took on a more operational role for one of the teams I was managing, and moved portfolios to gain further experience in an area I wasn’t familiar with. The course gave me the confidence to step out of my comfort zone. This led me to apply for a promotion within my area of work and was successfully appointed into the Lead Governance role across the trust. I feel that understanding the values of CMI has allowed me to demonstrate integrity and effective leadership skills. I am most definitely much more emotionally and self-aware, particularly when dealing with difficult situations which I come across quite a lot in my new role. I also have developed in confidence, resilience and I’m much more agile resulting in being more creative and innovative within my role. I would recommend anyone exploring enrolling on a CMI apprenticeship to do so. “ Embodying the values of CMI has allowed me to demonstrate integrity and effective leadership skills. I have also developed in confidence, resilience and I’m much more agile, resulting in being more creative and innovative within my role. “