Thomas McNamara – Case Study
Thomas McNamara has been employed at Fresenius Kabi & Calea UK Ltd based in Runcorn since 2015. During this time, he has completed 2 Apprenticeships with STEGTA, a Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship in Engineering Manufacture (Electrical/Electronic) and he has recently achieved a Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship in Engineering Manufacture. We caught up with him to talk about his Apprenticeship journey…
Thomas McNamara being presented with a STEGTA Excellence Award for outstanding performance in Electrical/Electronic Engineering by his STEGTA Training Officer Dave Smith and Group Training Manager Paul Howarth.
Why did you decide to follow the route of an Apprentice engineer?
From an early age, Engineering is something that I have always been interested in and considered it as a pathway to potentially go down. Throughout school, I also thoroughly enjoyed design technology which was as close to engineering as I was getting at that time. Not only that but my Dad has been involved within the Engineering industry for many years and always encouraged me to go into the industry due to the opportunities and ongoing demand for Engineers.
In terms of an Apprenticeship, I have always been passionate about learning your trade and gaining valuable experience whilst earning money. I also am really happy that this has been the pathway I chosen.
What does a typical day at work involve for you?
My typical day within the Medical Devices team at Fresenius Kabi really is never the same. My working day can vary from numerous tasks and jobs, especially with the recent pandemic. My role is to repair and service devices and complete written SAP reports for each repair, some of which are chargeable and some of which are repaired under warranty. As well as this, my role is to configure brand new devices which are to be sent out to hospitals. These devices will have configurations loaded onto them which is specific to each hospital depending on their Trust. Additionally, I also help with numerous customer queries throughout the working day via telephone. This is something I enjoy as I feel it develops my knowledge and enables me to feel more comfortable talking to customers on the telephone and helping them with any problems they are facing.
What do you enjoy about your job?
I enjoy my job a lot. The aspect of my job I enjoy the most is problem solving and getting to the bottom of a complex repair etc. Within our industry, we directly impact the care of critically ill patients by making sure our devices are repaired and are in immaculate condition before returning them to the customer. It is not only vital that we repair them and service them, but it is also our role to support the engineering teams nationally with any problems they face with our devices, so it is critical that we have extensive knowledge on all devices.
How did your STEGTA Training Officer and Employer support you throughout your Apprenticeship?
Throughout my Apprenticeship I was always supported by Dave Smith (my STEGTA Training officer) and my mentor Rob Cully (Fresenius Kabi). Without the ongoing support from both of them, I would not have found the Apprenticeship scheme as straight forward as I did. Dave was always available to be contacted via telephone or email to help with any of the work I was required to complete etc. I also had the immediate help of my mentor Rob in company. As a result, it was rare that I had to contact Dave for further help. I would definitely recommend STEGTA for somebody who is looking for an Apprenticeship.
How has your role developed since starting at Fresenius Kabi?
My role has changed massively from when I first started at Fresenius Kabi in comparison to now. I have much more responsibility and am able to manage my own work more frequently (which is something I thoroughly enjoy). When I first started my employment, I was working on the Enteral Nutrition section for the first 6 months in order to learn as much as I could. Following that, we then started to rotate between the 3 sections within the department (Enteral Nutrition, CALEA and Infusion Technology) with 2 months on each section. This was the case for around 2 years, until a permanent fixture within the Infusion Technology section became available. I now work on that section permanently and deputise when needed for the section leader Michaela Hayward. This is something I really enjoy as I have been able to develop my knowledge a lot more than when I was only on the section for 2 months at a time. I am now confident in that I am also fully competent in terms of all the devices we cover within the section.
Do you hope to progress to any further training/higher education?
In terms of training, I am always looking to progress and develop, so any further opportunity to complete more qualifications or training which will directly impact and improve my career as an Engineer, I will be more than happy to do. So far, I have completed Level 2, 3 and 4 qualifications and I have recently been nominated to take part in an internal leadership qualification that is designed to improve the skillset of future managers within our organisation.