Emma Charman

Where do you work?

I work at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, running a multi-disciplinary preceptorship programme and offering support to newly registered radiographers (both diagnostic and therapeutic), dietitians, orthoptists and healthcare scientists in their early careers.

I also work jointly as the education lead radiographer in radiotherapy one day per week, supporting and coaching staff to help them to develop and progress in their careers.

What do you do in your current role/area of expertise?

My job roles are very focussed on the education pillar of practice as I undertake training and facilitation, as well as offering pastoral care and support to learners and colleagues. In my role as a professional advocate, I am able to offer restorative clinical supervision, careers conversations and support with education or service improvement.  I promote a learning culture and offer training and support to preceptors, who are supporting new staff in their own departments. I teach the preceptee’s about supporting students and giving constructive feedback, as well as coaching/mentoring techniques they can use.

My preceptorship role has a large element of leadership as I am enthusiastically leading the development, delivery and evaluation of the programme across the trust, ensuring it is aligned to national guidance. I am also teaching leadership skills to preceptee’s and colleagues, promoting the importance of continuous professional development and lifelong learning, which I role model myself by constantly learning. I also actively participate in regional and national communities of practice and the national therapeutic radiography preceptorship team.

In my education lead role, I promote personal and professional development to all staff and encourage everyone to lead by example and reach their full potential.

I focus on the research pillar within the preceptorship programme, ensuring everything that I teach is up to date and reflects evidenced based practice. I also include research as a topic in the preceptorship programme, to ensure all newly registered staff realise this is an important aspect of their training and development from their early careers onwards.

From a clinical perspective I focus more on the soft skills which are applicable to all professions and vital in the clinical environment: communication skills, team working, wellbeing and resilience, personalised care and decision making are all key elements. This enables the preceptee’s to improve their confidence with all of these aspects, which also allows them to improve their clinical competencies in their own departments.

What steps did you take to get to this role?

I have over 30 years’ experience in radiotherapy, working in clinical, leadership, management and education roles.

I have a PGCert in Education (Teaching and Learning for Health Professionals), an ILM Coaching and Mentoring qualification, a Professional AHP Advocate qualification, and I have undertaken training courses in Leadership, Action Learning Sets Facilitation and Schwartz Round Facilitation. I am also an Inclusion Ally and Preceptorship Champion with the National Therapeutic Radiography Preceptorship Team.

I undertook a secondment with Health Education England in 2021/22 as a Reducing Pre-registration Attrition and Improving Retention (RePAIR) fellow, which enabled me to learn more about preceptorship. When I returned to the trust, I was able to put in to practice what I learnt and develop an AHP Preceptorship Programme.

What support did you have along the way or would have been helpful to have had?

I have had lots of support from some great line managers throughout my career, who have allowed me to take a less conventional career pathway and seen the benefits of that. I have also had some very supportive colleagues and the unwavering support of family and friends.

There were challenges with securing funding for a substantive post as AHP Preceptorship Lead, so gathering evidence of the benefits for staff and the organisation, as well as risks of not having the role in place were important for the business case.

What is the most rewarding thing about your role?

Being able to support staff to enable them to reach their full potential. It is really rewarding to see staff develop their confidence and progress in their careers, whilst feeling like you have played a small part in that.

Facilitating interactive sessions within the preceptorship programme including action learning sets and group restorative clinical supervision sessions are rewarding, as you can see the benefits of peer learning and support.

I also really enjoy doing 1:1 coaching and careers conversations to enable colleagues to stretch themselves and think about new opportunities.

What advice can you give to others who might want to work towards this role or follow a similar pathway?

A role within Practice Education in Radiography is definitely worth considering if you enjoy teaching and developing students and staff. It is very rewarding to feel like you can make a difference for your colleagues, in the same way it is to make a difference for your patients. Being able to pass on your knowledge and experience to newly registered staff is really important to ensure that our patients are at the centre of everything we do. If you are a people person who has empathy and compassion, then progressing into a role as a Preceptorship Lead, Education Lead and/or Professional Advocate can provide a fulfilling alternative to advanced clinical, management or research roles. I would highly recommend it!