Grace Papworth – Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
‘Busyness is a spectacularly good hiding place’ (Trembath, 2019)
The NHS is committed to a Career Break Policy that allows staff to take an unpaid break from their employment. The scheme must be agreed between employers and is open to any NHS employees who have fulfilled a minimum of 12-months’ service (NHS Employers, 2019). In my situation, I had completed two years of radiography service within my hospital trust when applying for a career break. Fortunately, my employer agreed to grant a six-month career break to allow me to pursue my passion for travelling. Gaining this offer confirmed to me that not only did my employer care about my health and progression within the trust, but I felt like a highly valued member of the team. I understood the offer as a gesture that my employers were keen for me to return, but still cared about giving me the opportunity to pursue something exciting and rewarding within my NHS career.
Working within a hospital environment on unsociable shifts can be very demanding, both emotionally and physically. When requesting my career break, I was approaching a stage in my career where people in the same academic year were moving into different modalities, buying houses, or pursuing an imminent promotion. I was feeling increasingly pressured to do the same, and I was constantly grilled with the question: ‘What do you want to do next?’. However, I knew all I wanted was to travel to new parts of the world before I made any further commitments in my career. Making time for my passion to travel was a conscious step toward building a positive work-life balance, so I feel very grateful for being granted permission to pursue a career break while also having a respectable job to return home to. I acknowledge this is a professional privilege not afforded to employees in many other industries, and I therefore highly value my position as a staff member of the NHS.
During my planned career break, I spent six-months travelling across south-east Asia and Australia. I managed to explore nine countries and experience some amazing new cultures. Although I was essentially on “holiday” for that time, approximately half way through my journey I felt a sense of loss; of diminishing importance; as I usually crave the feeling of being perpetually busy. It was at this crossroads that I coincidentally heard about a volunteering project working with disabled dogs in Thailand. I volunteered with the organisation at Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai for 7 days and retrieved a sense of purpose again. The experience proved to me how much I genuinely enjoy working within the NHS and helping people (or animals) return to good health every day.
Boud et al. (1985) identifies reflection as, “a generic term for those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations”. In that light, reflecting on my travels after I arrived home in England I discovered I possessed a renewed enthusiasm for my radiography work and profession as a whole. I actually looked forward to returning to a routine! With this discovery however, I have also learnt that I need to look after my self care routine better, such as being conscious about the value of my time and any extra commitments that may impede it. Essentially, my experience has given me the knowledge of when to say no. My travel career break has helped me to realise the importance of managing my time and energy to ensure sustainable career growth and avoid burnout.
Following my return home, I went straight back into shift work and was assigned to a wide range of hospital departments. Initially, I was nervous to return to work, imagining that I may have ‘forgotten how to x-ray’. Naturally, nothing had noticeably changed and it strangely felt like I had never left. This realisation can be taken as a positive result to my career break, as my re-entry into the role was seamless, allowing me to get swiftly into the swing of things and instantly locate my confidence after just one morning shift. I unfortunately also realised how quickly time goes, but I was nonetheless comforted by how many exciting, new experiences I was able to fit into six-months of exploring overseas.
Interestingly, the time I have spent away from my job with the NHS has revived my passion for radiography and imparted positive changes in my current practice. I first became aware of this re-energised passion while I was still travelling and meeting new people. I would often pause to notice myself describing my profession in such an exciting way, pointing out how proud I was to be a radiographer. I carried this communal feeling of belonging around the world – as radiographers we have so many stories to tell from every shift, including both good and bad experiences. For example, witnessing children in ill health daily shows how life can be short and that I made the right decision to travel when I had the opportunity.
I recently read an article titled: ‘People wanting flexible hours and career breaks are killing the NHS’ (Tamplin, 2017). I believe the younger generation of NHS workers – a group of employees that it is vital stay interested and committed to their work – want to travel more due to how culture has changed in recent years. The millennial generation, defined as those between the ages of 16 and 34 are more interested in travelling abroad in favour of extended meaningful experiences compared to standard vacations (Machado, 2014). In contrast to the article, I believe the Career Break scheme is an excellent way to enable employers to retain experienced staff who are committed to providing high quality, patient-centred care in the NHS.
Reflecting on the importance my career break has had on my professional life has additionally engaged me in the process of continuous learning, teaching me to learn from all my experiences (Society of Radiographers, 2019). In hindsight, I didn’t exactly ‘find myself’ while backpacking on the other side of the world, however the time spent travelling allowed me to reflect on what’s important now and focus on
what my future ambitions are.
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