Nursing student leading the way through scholarship opportunity

A GCU student has been accepted onto a prestigious scholarship programme, which aims to develop the leadership skills of those working in medical, nursing and allied health professions. 

Fourth year Adult Nursing student Natalie Elliott will work with others from across the UK as part of the Healthcare Leadership Academy (HLA) Scholarship programme. 

Over the next year, Natalie will engage in a series of online webinars and in-person workshops, while also developing her very own project. 

We caught up with Natalie to find out more and to hear about how she plans to take her leadership skills to the next level. 

What made you want to get involved in this? 

“I am passionate about Leadership. I was involved in the Council of Deans of Health’s #150Leaders Programme when I was in first year, but I wasn’t as confident back then. I have seen the HLA advertise over the years but never been brave enough to apply - this year I have started to scale back my commitments so it was the ideal time to go for it.” 

 
How did it feel when you found out you’d been selected? 

“The imposter syndrome kicked in! I thought it was a mistake and that they must have got me mixed up with someone else.  

It did actually give me a bit of self-belief because I have struggled for years in terms of not feeling good enough, but being accepted gave me some confidence.” 

What parts of the scholarship are you most looking forward to? 

Have you decided what you’ll focus on with your community project that you’ll be involved in during the course of the year? 

“I have been lucky enough to pass an interview for two projects based around policy. One will be working with HLA:Think, where I will be co-leading the governance arm, while also researching & writing articles for the wider community about the latest clinical governance development.  

My other project will be with HLA:Ideas, where I will be co-leading to encourage organisations to create monthly bulletins on the latest developments within workforce policy.” 


How do you hope this will benefit your future career? 

“I am hoping that I will gain lots of essential skills and develop further in areas such as communication and negotiation. I also hope that I can gain a good insight into healthcare policy as I believe this is where real change is made.” 

By Ross Clark          
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on Twitter