Donna Rowe
Central Cornwall ICA development manager
NHS Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board
About me
I am a Cornish girl and live in Cornwall with my son and our 2 cats. I am currently working for the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB).
My NHS Journey
When I took my first post in the NHS in 1987, I had no idea where it would take me. I was initially employed in an entry level administration role. In those days there were free NHS sight tests and no computers. My job was to manually count the number of sight tests forms for each optician, this became the basis of their payment. It was a completely different environment to the high tech one we have today.
Over the years I progressed to a team lead role but was unable to progress further without undertaking further qualifications. In 1996, I began studying with The Open University for my certificate and then diploma in health and social care. These opened the door into the management roles that I was aiming for.
After completing both qualifications, I still felt I could achieve more so commenced my Masters in Business Administration (MBA). I was so proud to graduate with my MBA at a ceremony from the UNESCO building in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in 2004.
Leadership and Transformation in Cornwall
Since that time in 2004, I have been fortunate enough to have led on several county-wide transformational areas of work. Most recently I have introduced the Community Health and Wellbeing Worker (CHWW) model across Cornwall. We have worked closely with the NAPC and Imperial College along with the CHWW team from Pimlico. The passion and enthusiasm that we have nurtured across Cornwall now sees us as the biggest CHWW service in the country with 59 CHWWs (33 whole time equivalent) in 9 areas that are all in are top 10% most deprived areas of Cornwall.
Population Health Fellowship
As well as working for the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB, I am also currently undertaking a 2 day a week secondment as a population health fellow. This is managed by NHS England southwest and my fellowship placement is with the public health team at Gloucestershire County Council.
The fellowship has given me the opportunity to work in a completely different health and care system and to step outside of my comfort zone of working in Cornwall.
The basis of the fellowship is to develop a project that can be completed within the 12 months that utilises population health skills. These skills are being gained through a learning programme as well as on the job experience with the support from a local fellowship supervisor.
The project is focusing on the primary care network nonclinical additional roles reimbursement scheme roles and if and how they are aligned to health inequalities and personalisation across Gloucestershire.
Learn more about Community Health and Wellbeing Workers (CHWW) here or contact us at napc@napc.co.uk
