Your Career

Liam - Assistant Estates Engineer Officer

I’m Liam Padgett and I work for NHS Estates, as an Assistant Estates Engineer Officer. I've worked at this trust for the NHS for five years, and specifically in this role for three months. I assist in monitoring and managing water quality within the trust, including setting up samples to detect Legionella Pseudomonas. Then there are general duties: ordering work to be completed by contractors, as well as managing and overseeing contractors when they’re on site. Before I started my apprenticeship with the NHS, I was in the Royal Navy for four and a half years, which I joined after leaving sixth form in 2017. In the Navy, I worked as an Engineering Technician - Marine Engineer, which involved general maintenance of on-ship engines and generators.

I was with the Royal Navy for four years and after that, I was hired full-time as a mechanical craftsperson, and I remained in that role for roughly 8-9 months. That is when I saw the opening for this role at NHS Estates. What attracted me to work in the NHS is that fundamentally it is a good, reputable organisation to work for, and for me in mechanical engineering, made NHS Estates a perfect match. Whilst joining the NHS, I noticed the same strong sense of camaraderie that I felt in the Navy, which was a great culture to be part of again.

I’ve found working within NHS Estates has given me a better work-life balance, there are fewer strict deadlines, and there’s a general sense of respect for one another. The work culture makes for a friendly and inviting environment, even during my apprenticeship, the supervisors were brilliant and always there to support and help. It’s great that within my current role I have more responsibility, that I get to oversee people and the work they do, and I’ve enjoyed the challenge that has come with managing.

For anyone thinking about working within the NHS, I would highly recommend it. It has great benefits, from things as simple as the Blue Light card, to the people and the general work culture. There is a great support network here and everyone wants to help you succeed.

David - Assistant Director

I’m David Pearson, the Assistant Director of NHS Estates, I’m responsible for managing the development of maintenance regimes and upgrades to infrastructure on hospital sites. This involves reviewing legislation, data, department performance, procuring, condition and service. Then drawing the review together into a plan and analysing maintenance regimes and the success rate, it highlights what upgrades are needed.

I’ve worked for NHS Estates for 25 years and I’ve been in this role for a year now. I started back with the trust in 1995 after finishing University, I started out as a Project Engineer. I stayed in this role till 2005 when I left for a 10-year period to work at the University of CASS as a Project Manager. I later returned to the trust in 2015, coming in to do the role of Operational Manager, till today where in 2021 I took on the temporary secondment of Assistant Director's rule.

What really attracted me to first working with NHS was the security it gave. I’ve found working for NHS Estates the regular hours and a fixed place of employment has been beneficial to my work-like balance, it provides a settled routine. It’s so rewarding working for a company that makes a difference, knowing that when you come to work you are working towards making things better. 

I’d recommend looking for a career within NHS Estates, you’ll be supported the whole way and you’ll get immeasurable ground experience. You’ll get the full experience of what build services and engineering in a hospital setting. We all strive here to create a warm, welcoming, positive culture here at NHS Estates. Especially being in a high-pressure environment where your work directly affects patient care, you need a supportive network behind you and that’s what we provide here at NHS Estates.

Cris - Senior Medical Electronics Technician

I’m Cris Gatilogo, a Senior Medical Engineering Technician, based primarily at the Freeman hospital. My team is responsible for managing the commission of medical devices in the Newcastle Upon Tyne Trust, managing medical devices with a multi-million value.

My daily tasks revolve around asset management as well as supporting and managing the clinical staff. Which involves acceptance testing, firm acceptance testing, breakdowns, repairs, and a lot of preventative maintenance on medical devices. We work closely with multidisciplinary teams like Medical Physics Critical Care teams, and Admin who communicate with third-party suppliers.

I joined the NHS back in 2003 as a part of the Milton Keynes Hospital trust, I stayed here for four years working as a general porter alongside nurses. After, I then joined the South-Central ambulance service for another six years working between Milton Keynes and London area. Then following a three-year gap, where I took a personal break from work to be a full-time dad. In the September of 2018 I re-joined the NHS as a Junior Technician here at the Freeman, by the sixth month I was working as a technician and after three years I was promoted to Senior Medical Engineering Technician. I have a background in Electrical Engineering, so the transferable skills and the similarity of the roles made me a perfect fit for this job here at NHS Estates.

The culture at the Freeman is very welcoming and accommodating, especially since moving from the Philippines I’ve found the workplace culture to be very accepting and diverse in its cultures. With having children what I’ve found great about working for the NHS is the amount of paid holiday compared to other companies, it has really benefited my work-life balance. Since the pandemic there has been a huge push towards flexibility at work which has given us the benefit of flexitime when needed.

My favourite thing about working here is the people, I love talking to everyone and being able to engage in the minority staff network as well as the staff network translating outside of work. I love networking with the different departments, the clinical staff, admin and the wider company, I really enjoy meeting and getting to know people across the board.

For someone considering a job within NHS Estates, I would recommend visiting the site and speaking with the team to gauge if the environment is for them. From my experience when I first came to the site for an interview, I found everyone to be friendly and accommodating.

Gavin - Deputy Director of Operations and Maintenance

I’m Gavin Evans and I am the Deputy Director of Operations and Maintenance at NHS Estates. I provide senior leadership and direction to the Estate’s directorate, whilst making sure we have the right culture embedded and that we are quality focused. Our priority is always on our patient's care, we put the patients at the forefront of everything we do.

I make sure what we deliver is in line with this focus on our patients, and that we deliver to the best of our abilities at a consistently high standard. I keep track of overall performance, allowing us as a company to benchmark and set targets. I work alongside the Director, in assisting with the Capital Programme, looking at how we can manage, delegate funding, and arrange for the right contractors and designs to be in place. A lot of my role is making sure we have the right people in the right departments, and that within their roles they are receiving all the support they need. On an external level, my role requires me to provide professional engineering and Estates guidance and advice to the Board and execs.

My progression into this role started as a Mechanical Engineer, which I then progressed to Operations Manager, to where I then became Capital Project Manager for a company contracted by the NHS, then later transferred into the NHS itself. After working for three years within the NHS, I left to work for private mental health companies for four years, where I specialised in hospitals and care homes for adults with learning disabilities and autism. Then in December of 2018, I re-joined the NHS as Deputy Director where I am responsible for managing the Freeman Hospital, specifically the engineering and building departments.

Where in the past I felt I had reached my limitations within other companies, what drew me back to the NHS was the magnitude of the scope they have. Locally with iconic institutions such as the Freeman and RVI, the level of service being delivered is well known and you can’t beat the reputation that comes from that. Alongside the opportunity for personal development, what I saw was the opportunity to be able to help people on a grander scale. The benefit of working for NHS Estates is you will never be solely responsible, whereas in other companies for example there is often a sole fire safety manager, who works alone and is responsible for the whole department. At Estates you always work as part of a larger team, no sole responsibility of a whole department falls onto you and you a surrounded by the support of your colleagues. A big focus for us as a company at the moment is not only ensuring the quality of our culture - we’re constantly improving and that is all in change, we want to make sure everyone is a part and benefits from this.

Ian - Lateral Supervisor

I’m Ian Hartley and I work for NHS Estates as a Lateral Supervisor at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle Upon Tyne. I’ve worked at NHS Estates for 43 years. Day to day I’m dealing with maintenance issues, checks and minor installs such as PTM and faults.

Before working here, I completed a year at college, covering all the fundamentals such as installs, maintenance checks, and PBM Checks across all three major hospitals. I started out working here as an apprentice and I then spent two years working in electronics. Around 20 years ago is when I came back to the Freeman hospital and started working as the Lateral Supervisor. Now, I’m responsible for managing a group of 12, organising shift patterns, monitoring them, handling money and dealing with various issues.

Every day is very varied, but a large part of my role is PBM checks. As I am working in such a large hospital with regular fuse boards, you have them at home, we have millions of them. With such a large number of fuse boards there are various levels and checks that we do to ensure they are meeting safety standards.

What attracted me in the first place was the security working for a large organisation like the NHS gave. As I looked further into a career here, I heard more about how great the culture is and the level of ambition which you see in the people working here. There is so much room for progression within the company as well, I’ve seen apprentices work their way to top managers.

Since working here, the people I work with are a huge part of why I love this job. No matter if they are a manager or an apprentice everyone treats each other the same. Who you work with can really impact the job and having a laugh with the guys at work makes it all that easier to get through the day. NHS Estates has a culture of helpfulness, friendliness and everybody working together. I highly recommend working here as two days are never the same and it is it’s everything and more than I thought it would be.

Laura - Sustainability Manager

I’m Laura Middlemass, my role at NHS Estates is as the assistant Sustainability Manager.

I’ve worked as part of the Sustainability team for 6 years, as we work towards NHS net zero carbon goals, as well as site-specific goals such as zero waste and clean air. I spend a lot of time communicating with the wider NHS workforce on issues of sustainability, discussing what impact their role can have on issues of sustainability. Key to my role is introducing new ways of working throughout departments that are more environmentally conscious.

 After taking a four-year break after having my second child, I joined NHS Estates in what was known at the time as the Environmental Management team, now the Sustainability team. I started out in admin, then progressed into Sustainability Officer, then into Assistant Sustainability Manager where I am today. What attracted me to working within NHS Estates was the company’s reputation, being such a large organisation, the job security was very attractive to me. At the time, NHS Estates was one of the very few organisations looking at sustainability issues. Before working at NHS Estates, I worked for the Energy Saving Trust who analyse domestic energy efficiency. At the time, we worked with local authorities educating them on how to improve local housing stock to meet energy consumption standards, intending to tackle fuel poverty. 

From working at NHS Estates for 6 years I’ve found there is a real sense of teamwork and a culture of supporting one another. In Newcastle Hospitals specifically, I’ve found there is this strong culture of striving for excellence and wanting to provide the utmost care. What I’ve found since working here, is the care of our patients is always at the core, even in Estates where we don’t personally deal with patients. Throughout the organisation, everyone upholds the same values, and universally we all want to uphold the image of being an outstanding institution. Within the Sustainability team itself, there’s a real strong team ethic and a sense that everyone has each other’s back and supports one another.

My favourite thing about the job is the team I’m part of, we have such a good team dynamic, we all care and support each other. Generally, I just feel proud to be helping achieve a more sustainable future and working towards something as large as decarbonising the NHS. There’s a real drive nationally into growing the sustainability sector, with net zero carbon goals and with many companies having their own sustainability team. It is very rewarding working for a company like the NHS as a company that is founded on helping people, I value being able to be a part of that.

If you’re considering a job with NHS Estates, I would highly encourage you to go for it. It requires a lot of hard work and determination, but the rewards are high, and you’ll be supported your whole way through training. The opportunities for progression once you start are endless, there’s been many who have started as apprentices and through degrees ad master’s education have worked their way to heads of departments. So, if you’re ambitious and are looking for a company that’ll support your career progression, NHS Estates is the one for you.

Michael - Senior Mechanical Engineer

My name is Michael Davison, and I am the Senior Mechanical Engineer here at NHS Estates, where I’ve worked for 13 years. I lead a team of four Mechanical Estates Officers, who themselves manage teams of Mechanical Craftsmen. Together we work towards ensuring statutory monetary compliance across a site terminal, plus additional various maintenance issues and installation works.

I first started at NHS Estates in 2009, joining the team as a Mechanical Apprentice through the North Yorkshire NHS Assessment Centre. Over four years I completed my apprenticeship, completing my NVQ level two and three, national certificate and foundation degree along the way. In 2013, I finished my apprenticeship and spent two years working as a Mechanical Fitter on site. I was then promoted to Estate Officer in 2015, where I monitored water quality and decontamination, which I was I decided to complete my degree in Building Service Engineering alongside working for NHS Estates. In 2019, I then took on my current role of Senior Mechanical Engineer at the RVI.

When I first started working at NHS Estates it was during the national recession, and the security and insurance that the NHS could offer was unmatched. During that time in my life, I saw it as a priority to specialised in a trade, not only for the job security but as a skill I could carry with me throughout the rest of my life. For me, a main benefit working here is the unmatched job security, not only for the financial reason but for the emotional value it brings knowing your job is secure.

 More than that is the knowing the positive impact the NHS has on wider society and being able to contribute and be a part of that positivity. This is the real reason why people stay with NHS for so long in their careers because worthwhileness of the work they are doing and the positive impact they can bring through it.

It is a very rewarding job, but it does have it challenges, especially when you first have to come to terms with the fact that the customer is essentially the patient. The philosophy we hold is that the patient could be anybody – they could be your mother or your sister, but it doesn't matter what age, gender, race, sex anything their care comes first. We take pride in the fact that anyone who comes to the hospital will get the best possible care and treatment. That is what I love about working here, the challenging but rewarding culture and above all ensuring the patients receive the best care.

Richard - Project Manager for Operations and Maintenance

I’m Richard Wisson and I am the Project Manager for Operations and Maintenance at NHS Estates, while I have many responsibilities within my role, currently, I am focused on fire remediation work across the RVI and the Freeman Hospitals.

I worked as a Joiner for a long time before joining the NHS, as self-employed, in construction for business sites, exhibition companies and shop fitting companies. Even in my first role in the NHS, I worked as a Joiner as a part of the RVI Maintenance team. In 2017, I was starting to notice a downturn in construction work, so I took the decision to relocate to the Northeast to find work. That’s where I fell into my first role within NHS Estates, what really attracted me was the job security it provided.

In total, I’ve worked at NHS Estates for just under 5 years, after my first role as a Joiner for a year I was then promoted to Assistant Building Officer after that then carried out that role for another two years, and I was promoted to Billing Officer. After another year and a half, I sought further internal promotion and took on the role I am currently in, as Project Manager for Operations and Maintenance. Working here for nearly five years working has been beyond my expectations, the NHS has provided training and they’ve helped me upskill myself.

The role is very phone-centric so day-to-day I spend most of my day answering calls and emails, it can be very busy, but I find it can make the day pass quicker. I really like that I don’t sit around all day, I enjoy the buzz of being on my feet and moving around all day. I really enjoy the fast-paced environment especially compared with other places I’ve worked. Everyone is always so friendly and nice to work alongside, there is no one on the staff who isn’t a pleasure to work with. Even with the current climate and situation when I come into the office everyone always has a smile on their face, and that really makes my day. It makes it a joyous place to work knowing when I’m having a bad day personally, I’m greeted by smiles and warmth from my colleagues.

There has been a focus on work-life balance within the NHS Estates at the moment, which has allowed me to work from home if I want to, and they are constantly working towards improving hybrid, flexible working strategies. A benefit I personally enjoy, is the ownership of a company car, a car that I previously wouldn’t have been able to afford. I would definitely recommend working for the NHS, the opportunities for progression are amazing. For myself starting out as a Joiner I am now in a role I never imagined in my wildest of dreams.

Tom - Specialist Engineering Manager

I’m Tom Rutherford and I’ve been working at NHS Estates for 14 years, currently as a Specialist Engineering Manager. Originally, I came from a background in Mechanical Engineering, and I found this experience aided the blend of pharmaceuticals, clinical, and engineering within this role. I work within specialised medical environments, with medical plants and equipment that is unique to healthcare. A lot of the focus of my job is assisting the dental engineering team, doing general maintenance, monitoring reactive and ventilation, and ensuring everything is under permit to work. Day to day, my responsibilities focus on monitoring the piped medical gas infrastructure, specifically managing levels of piped oxygen supplies, and Nitrous Oxide (NOx).

What initially attracted me to work in NHS Estates was the security it gave and the high level of professionalism I saw within the staff. I also noticed they upheld a high level of training, and this is something that drew me to working here. Specifically, what attracted me to healthcare engineering was the clear and established system, it ensures everything is carried out in an orderly manner with accident prevention in mind. I also enjoy the natural diversity of work I encounter, which keeps the environment challenging and engaging.

Chris - Mechanical Craftsperson

My name is Chris Barnett and I work as a Mechanical Craftsperson, looking after infrastructure like the heating, ventilation, steam services and water distribution.

My job involves working on the steam main and working on ventilation supplies, in wards, theatres, and PBM therapy. I’ve worked here for four years, and have just completed my four-year apprenticeship, having left school at 16 to work within the NHS Estates.

For the first six months I worked in the pharmacy working with on autoclaves and all the units in there. Then six months after that I worked in the dental department, working on dental chairs and ventilation. I spent the latter three years working with the mechanical craftspeople here at the RVI. Alongside the practical work, I did my BTEC Level three college in the first two years and completed my HNC at college and last two years.

I've always had a mechanical mindset, so I knew I definitely wanted a hands-on job, like mechanical so I wanted to do something along those lines. I know I didn't want to go into the manufacturing industry. So, I wanted to do building services and then the apprenticeship came up, so I wanted to go for it.

I would describe the culture at this site as good, everyone's friendly – everyone just likes to help each other really. We have good communication with people who work on wards, work in theatres and ward sisters because you've got to talk to them before you complete maintenance work. It's a good place to work.

The main benefit with my job is that it's a secure job. Everyone's always told me I could stay for life and work my way up if I wanted to. It motivates me because it's exactly what I wanted in a job.

My favourite part of the job is definitely the people who I work. The jobs that I do I'm really interested I, and there’s nothing that’s too repetitive.

I think that doing an apprenticeship with NHS Estates is the best way to go if you want to work with your hands - the training is above and beyond anywhere else. Four years’ worth of college seems like a lot, but it goes really quick. By the end of it, it's not as hard as you think it would be and you complete loads of training courses along the way. I think I went on over 30 training courses which were all credited and I’ve got all the certificates for them. I couldn't have asked for more from my apprenticeship.

Luke - Electrician

Luke - Electrician Case Study Story