Life at HCA UK

After starting her housekeeping career in hotels Roma eventually found her passion in healthcare. Now Head of Housekeeping at HCA UK she tells us more about her journey, why she swapped hotels for hospitals, and gives us an insight into the key role our housekeeping teams play in delivering an exceptional patient experience.

In 2022 Rivania joined the Occupational Therapy team at London Bridge Hospital after relocating from South Africa. Now, she’s a Lead Occupational Therapist at The Wellington Hospital. Here, she shares insights into her rapid progression, how she’s been supported to take on new challenges and how she feels HCA’s culture of professional development makes it the perfect place for Occupational Therapists seeking to grow their career.

With over 8 years of experience as a Registered Nurse in Lebanon, Ahmad was recognised as an expert in his field but struggled to progress due to his refugee status. Now at HCA UK, he's discovered that he can take his career in a direction of his choosing.

Each year, around 10 million people experience a mental health issue in the UK alone. Over half of UK employees say they have experienced mental health issues at work but fewer than half of those felt confident enough to talk about it. As part of our wellbeing services, we’ve trained a number of Mental Health First Aiders to support colleagues and signpost them to help. In this interview, Michael Hogg, Head of Physical Security & Information Protection shares his story on why he was keen to become a Mental Health First Aider.

A GP since 1998, Shanta joined HCA UK 5 years ago. As a South African, she’s worked in a few different countries, however since joining HCA UK she’s found that the continued variety in her day-to-day, coupled with her ability to deliver exceptional results for her patients has given her not just job satisfaction, but a career to be proud of. We caught up with her to find out more about why she loves doing what she does.

There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes at HCA Laboratories! As part of our celebrations for Biomedical Science Day 2023 we’re taking a look through the microscope at some of our colleagues from HCA Labs to find out more about their day to day role, and their passion for all things science.

Originally studying and training in Dublin, Niamh spent a few years in Australia before settling in London where she’s been working with HCA since August 2021. We caught up with her to find out more about her role as a GP and how she’s found the perfect balance between the lifestyle she craves, the care she wants to deliver and the career she’s passionate about.

A GP for almost 16 years, Balraj Sandhu recently returned from working in Australia looking for a suitable role in the UK. Having previously worked at Roodlane (now part of HCA) he already knew a few people working here and was delighted to join the team. We caught up with him to find out more about why he chose to return to HCA and how the variety in his role keeps it feeling fresh.

Take a look behind the scenes with the team working at the forefront of cancer care. Here the team from HCA at UCH, one of our specialist cancer centres,  talk about their journey with HCA UK, how they’ve grown and developed over the years as well as their reasons for choosing Oncology & Haematology as a career.

Erica moved to the UK in 2006 and had her first introduction to HCA while working as a cleaner for an agency at The Wellington Hospital. Soon after she joined our team as a Physiotherapy Assistant! Since then she’s been on quite a journey, balancing studying, a career in Physiotherapy and caring for her “big boned” cat Otis. Erica’s hard work has all been worth it though, as she received a promotion to Senior Physiotherapist in 2022. It’s been a long journey, so we caught up with her to find out how she did it.

Mark Greene joined HCA UK as a Head Chef after years working in hotels. Fast forward 22 years and he’s Group Director of Hotel Services. And keen to tell everyone what a great opportunity moving from hotels to our hospitals can be.

After a period where she was unsure whether she would continue as a nurse, Sylvia joined our team at The Harley Street Clinic at the end of 2021 and hasn’t looked back!  We checked in with her recently to see how she’s settled in to her role at HCA UK and find out more about how she’s fallen back in love with nursing.

Back in 2021, HCA Healthcare UK partnered with Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB) to support healthcare professionals who had been forcibly displaced from their home countries by conflict and civil unrest and help them find a new role, and home here in the UK. Moustafa joined our team in November 2021 through the programme and here, he tells us more about his journey with TBB and how he’s growing his career at HCA UK.

Rebecca, a Pre-Assessment Sister at London Bridge recently spoke to Diva magazine about her journey to becoming a Nurse, being part of the LGBTQ+ community and offers her insight into working in the private sector.

Take a look behind the scenes and get to know some of our colleagues from The Portland Hospital, the UK’s only private hospital dedicated to the care of women, children and their families. Discover their shared passion for nursing, midwifery and high quality care as well as hearing more about their journeys with HCA UK.

Meet Lisa. She’s current working as a Front of House Supervisor at The Princess Grace Hospital but that wasn’t always the case. Before she joined HCA UK 8 years ago she had a career in retail but soon found out her skills were easily transferable. We caught up with her to find out how she managed the transition and how she’s progressed her career in the Front of House team.

Meet Paulette. She’s current working as a Regional Executive Assistant but when she saw that HCA UK had partnered with Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England to deliver training to colleagues to become Mental Health First Aiders she knew she wanted to be involved. She’s recently completed her training and is now a qualified MHFA! We caught up with her to find out why it was important to her to be involved.

Lynda joined the team at HCA UK over 10 years ago, since then she’s gone on to complete a variety of courses to support her personal and professional development. Here she talks about her journey from Deputy Pharmacy Manager to Head of Outpatient and Pharmacy Services and the support she’s had along the way.