The 17,000-mile job interview
How far would you travel for an interview? Miriam Harris showed willing when she made a 17,000-mile round trip from Australia to secure a job at Ealing Hospital.
The emergency consultant, whose previous role included being flown to and from remote locations by helicopter to pick up critically ill children, spent nine years working Down Under.
Miriam said: “I spent several years in Darwin which is the smallest and most remote of Australia’s cities and was treating conditions you would have expected to find a century ago. A lot of that was fuelled by poverty.
The flight from London took more than 24 hours. I had my interview the following day and flew back to Darwin the day after that.”
“I must admit the first time I saw Ealing Hospital I wondered if I had made the right choice, but the people won me over. Its friendliness is one of its greatest strengths.”
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the merger of North-West London Hospitals NHS Trust and Ealing Hospital NHS Trust to create London North-West Healthcare NHS Trust.
Miriam added: “We’ve been through some tough times in recent years but have momentum now and the atmosphere feels much more positive.
“There was a lot of uncertainty about Ealing’s future and services being reduced, many of the staff and local community did not really believe that it is going to stay open. But we’ve turned a corner with investments like the new Community Diagnostic Centre and JAG accreditation for the endoscopy suite.”
Miriam, who is now the hospital’s medical director, says a dedicated medical leadership team is now making a difference tackling longstanding issues including education and training and a proposed business case to increase consultant cover at the weekends and run a seven-day-a-week Acute Medical Unit.
“Northwick Park seems to get most of the attention as the larger hospital but a lot of good things happening in Ealing with a committed workforce.”