Heartbeat: Hello my name is… Mike Carr

November 13, 2020

We say hello to Mike Carr, our new Group Director of Operations, PCCT. Joining us from Shropshire Community Health Trust as the Deputy Director of Operations, Mike brings a wealth of experience into his new position.

Speaking to Heartbeat, he said: “I started my healthcare career when I was 18 working in the medical staffing team of a mental health trust. After that, I worked as a mental health support worker for a charity in Stafford whilst I was at university.

After graduating, I joined the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme. My placements were in Derby, which is where I spent several years as the general manager for cancer and palliative care. That was a fantastic and rewarding job – one of the major projects at the time was overseeing the merger of those services when Derby and Burton’s hospitals merged to form University Hospitals of Derby and Burton.”

More recently, Mike’s career has had more of a community focus. “My last job in Shropshire was my first role working predominantly with community services. Since starting that role, I’ve become excited by the opportunities that exist within community services to help keep people well in their own homes for longer and get people back home as soon as possible. This takes the pressure away from busy acute services and allows patients to live the lives they want to. Coming to an integrated organisation such as this one, I hope there will be even more opportunities to achieve these goals.

“The ambition of this Trust to be the best integrated care organisation is what attracted me to this role. There is a buzz about this place, a desire to develop the services of the future – that’s a journey I wanted to be part of.

“My interests are focused on creating patient-centred services with an emphasis on the holistic needs of our patients, ensuring their physical needs are met to the highest standards, as well as focusing on their psychological and social wellbeing to keep them well. Equally, with a background of working in the charitable sector, I’m keen to ensure we develop effective partnerships between the NHS and charitable organisations who I know can provide excellent, value adding services to our patients. As a newbie to the organisation, I’m always open to offers to go and spend time with services and similarly, if people want to get in touch with me to discuss ideas then I’d be happy for them to do so.”

Outside of work Mike enjoys playing rugby. “I’m fairly new to the area, but I have played rugby for my team Eccleshall against local teams such as Wednesbury and Handsworth on many occasions.”

Be sure to give Mike a warm SWB welcome if you see him out and about!