NNUH employee is NHS Apprentice of the Year in East

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital apprentice Sophie Bland has won a prestigious award and been named NHS Apprentice of the Year for the Eastern region.

12 outstanding NHS apprentices from across England were recognised for the contribution they make to their teams and to the NHS at an exclusive event in London on Tuesday night, hosted by Minister for Care Quality, Ben Gummer MP.

Sophie won apprentice of the year at the 2015 NNUH Staff Awards after joining the Trust as an Apprentice Medical Secretary in the Gastroenterology Department in 2013. She has since progressed to Trust Senior Secretary for a Gastroenterology Consultant with aspirations of becoming an Administration Manager in the future.

Sophie said: “I was really honoured to attend the event and to be named Apprentice of the Year for our region. I am very proud of myself and what I’ve achieved and it was lovely to be recognised at the awards ceremony. I love my job and I think Apprenticeships are really valuable in the NHS. It gives people like myself, with little work experience in this field the opportunity to build a career and expand on knowledge and skills that we may not have realised we had. My apprenticeship has definitely paved the way towards my aim of being a Manager one day.”

Jeremy Over, Director of Workforce who also attended the event with Sophie, added: “It was a pleasure to watch Sophie receive her award. She’s a real credit to NNUH. Apprentices play a vital role in our hospitals and have changed the way we recruit. They are at the heart of succession planning allowing the organisation to ‘grow our own’ workforce. This exciting new talent stream helps us to create a highly trained, sustainable workforce offering outstanding patient care.”

Apprenticeships are a framework of education which combine core skills such as English and Maths with technical skills needed for specific clinical or administration jobs and incorporate a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ). The apprenticeship is delivered as vocational work-based learning which usually includes some attendance at college.

Sophie Bland