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A helping hand

An NHS manager who spent two years volunteering abroad using his skills as a health management advisor, Oly Shipp, is encouraging others to consider doing something similar.

International development charity VSO has launched a recruitment challenge looking for 260 health workers to volunteer in some of the world’s poorest countries, this year and next.

But the charity is not just looking for clinicians, but those with relevant health management and administrative skills too, who can share their experience and best practice to improve all aspects of healthcare in poorer countries.

Oly Shipp, a former general manager with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, who now works at Oxford Health, spent two years in the far north-west of Cambodia as a health management advisor.

Now he is back in the UK and working with VSO to try to encourage other health managers to consider it. He calls overseas volunteering “the best decision I ever made – not easy, but hugely rewarding”.

He said: “I’d always wanted to volunteer overseas. And it felt like the right time personally and professionally: I was young enough not to have ties, but hopefully mature enough to meet the tough challenges of working in a poor country, and experienced enough to have something to offer.”

The experience benefited both him and the hospital he worked in, he explained. “I think it has better standards of care than when I arrived, and there are certainly some physical improvements I can celebrate: wells fixed, wards decorated, and infection control equipment installed. However, the biggest difference – and the hardest to measure – comes through my attempts to role model good practice, both personally and professionally.

“I managed to share some management skills, although this was limited due to the strict hierarchies which meant hospital directors had very limited autonomy. Perhaps I made more difference through that more general role modelling of professional behaviour – hard work, punctuality, respect, cooperation, honesty and commitment.”

He said it has improved his own management skills, and that as someone who recruits staff himself, applicants with overseas volunteering skills would be particularly valuable. He said the experience made him realise how fortunate the NHS is, in terms of resources, compared to many other health systems.

He said: “I was lucky enough to have travelled to many places, but I had never lived and worked in a developing country, let alone in a rural area a long way from modern life and amenities.

“I was immersed in south east Asian culture, learning to speak and even read a hard language. I lived in a small rural village as the only outsider, which was hard but also amazing. I understand much more about the challenges of development work, having done it in practice. And I have discovered so much about myself: my own strengths and motivations.”

Asked for his message to other people considering volunteering, he said: “I would say ‘do it!’. I have had amazing, life-changing experiences which I will never forget. I find it’s generally the things I don’t do in life that I regret. I would urge colleagues to seize the day and apply for VSO – you’ll be glad you did.”

Those applying to volunteer will be assessed and matched to the best placement for their skills and experience, and the whole process tends to take four to nine months. Training, flights and accommodation are provided, alongside an allowance for basic costs. Brian Rockliffe, director of VSO UK said: “We’re urging healthcare professionals who are looking for an exciting, rewarding and life-changing experience to get in touch. If volunteering and helping to save and change lives of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people is something you’ve always wanted to do, then this could be your chance. It’s also an excellent way to develop professionally and personally.”

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