From Catering Assistant to Trainee Nursing Associate
I am Lucy Denby and I am a Band 2 Healthcare Support Worker on Cottage Ward at the Princess of Wales Hospital.
My department is a rehabilitation ward and we help patients to get back onto their feet if they've had a debilitating fall or if they need a bit of extra support before going back home.
I actually started in the Trust as a Catering Assistant, working in the kitchens to help deliver patients food and then I went onto do my care certificate with NHS Professionals on the Care Support Worker programme on Woodland Ward, which is a mental health ward and I thoroughly enjoyed that.
Then I became a fully qualified Healthcare Assistant/Support Worker and I got a job on Cottage Ward and I am very excited to be saying that I am going to be progressing and doing the Band 2 to 4 Apprenticeship scheme within the Trust to get my qualified Nursing Associate role, to then be able to progress on to do my Nursing.
The most rewarding part of my job is definitely getting to spend every single day with the amazing patients we have on Cottage Ward. It's an inspiration to get to work with them every single day and see them progressing on with their rehabilitation.
It is absolutely lovely, to be able to pull up a chair and have a 5-minute chat with them about their lives, and, so many of them have fascinating stories.
It's lovely to work on Cottage Ward, because everybody mucks in together and it really does feel like a family. We all work together, all of the Healthcare Assistants/Support Workers to support one another, but also to support one and others patients.