Healthcare is a broad field and my interest began when I volunteered at a care home and spoke to doctors who visited patients there. One doctor had been looking after a resident with Downs Syndrome so well for 10 years that he was outliving the average life expectancy for people with that condition. This inspired me, as this doctor had such a positive impact upon his patient's quality of life and his life expectancy.

Since August, I have been volunteering at Stepping Hospital on an orthopaedic and trauma ward, which has given me the opportunity to observe a range of different medical professionals at work. During my second visit, an elderly patient with dementia had forgotten where she was and was starting to get violent. A whole care team helped this patient to calm down without sedating her, including the security guards who helped her back to her room. Then the nurses quickly reassured her, demonstrating that they had a good relationship with the patient. The essential skills I saw in this situation were leadership, empathy, communication and the ability to work in a team. When interacting with the patients, I try to be empathetic as many of them feel lonely and simply want to talk. From this, I learned the importance of being patient and understanding, because patients will not feel comfortable with you, if they feel you are unwilling to give your time to speak and listen to them. This helped to develop my communication skills through small tasks like simply asking how they ended up in hospital and helping them fill in their dinner cards.

Leading the Yearbook Committee in Year 11 allowed me to develop my leadership skills, as I successfully organised subgroups to focus on different elements of the yearbook. Moreover, completing the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award has allowed me to develop leadership, time management and teamwork skills. For example, on the expedition I lead my team back to the campsite safely all in the set time. For my voluntary work, I work at the British Heart Foundation Charity Shop where I develop my communication skills and also learn to take responsibility. My duties include organising stock and working on the till which enables me to deal with a variety of people. I also developed my communication skills when working for three months with a charitable institution that distributed food to the homeless. This allowed me to see how lifestyle can have a negative impact on health, as several of them had colds due to insufficient clothing and shelter. Alongside this being able to advise children of different ages at Year 6 and Year 10 Open Mornings required me to demonstrate good communication skills.

I have developed initiative by working in the hospitality suite at Manchester United FC. Sometimes problems arise, but I always try to deal with dissatisfied customers politely and courteously. Volunteering at a cultural event in Leicester for a week permitted me to interact with a variety of people, some of whose first language was not English. This helped develop my communication and leadership skills, as I led the under-16 volunteers, ensuring all the required roles were assigned. I also developed my ability to work under stressful conditions, as it was a large event with 8000 people attending every day.

Having been involved in classical Indian dancing for 14 years, dance has become an important part of my routine, helping me to relax. I enjoy performing, as well as learning the dance theory. I also enjoy the gym as this allows me to completely distance myself from any stress of college and relax by working out. This also helps me to keep my motivation up. I am a hard working, dedicated and proactive individual who is willing to work hard to become a doctor, as I believe I can make a difference to people lives this way.