Chloe Herbert

Chloe Herbert

Surgical Matron, Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

FoNS Inspire Improvement Fellow

Midway through the programme, I went from being a ward manager to a matron, and a lot of that is down to the skills that I’d absorbed and things that I’d learnt from my colleagues and the fellows. I used some of the activities and the skills from the programme to help develop my relationship with the new people that I line managed and cope with all the new things I’d never done before. Gaining trust and understanding how people work and looking at ways of improvement was quite a big part of the role.

Moving forward, I’m planning to run weekly ‘Meet the Matron’ sessions. I would never have thought of doing this before, I would never have felt comfortable being so visible. But now I’m a bit more confident and recognise that my voice is just as important as anybody else’s. This has really pushed me to think about my future and where my career is going to go and what I want to do. I’m forward thinking of what my next role is going to look like and what I want to do. I feel I’ve got more to give and I’m much happier.