Two members of staff with NHS Forth Valley feature on a new careers website to highlight the wide range of jobs and careers available in NHS Scotland. Lorna Dougans, a physiotherapy team leader, works with adults with learning disabilities, and Fiona MacLeod-Neil is an occupational therapist assistant practitioner in a community mental health team for older people.
Both appear in short film clips discussing what their jobs involve and what they enjoy most about their work.
Lorna describes her job as very rewarding but also very challenging. She explained: “A learning disabilities person might not necessarily be able to tell you where they’re in pain and may not understand what has happened to them. We help patients manage their conditions by educating them and showing them what they can do to get better.”
Fiona normally sees people who have been referred to the team by their GP after their family has noticed problems such as forgetting to eat or getting confused.
She said: “You need to be a people person, I think. You need to have really good communication skills. Not just talking, but you have to listen as well. Sometimes when it’s older people, they’ve maybe not had someone to listen to them for such a long time.
“I really, really enjoy meeting people and we’re privileged to meet lots of different people from different walks of life. That’s the thing in my job that I really enjoy.”
For more details visit http://www.careers.nhs.scot
