The programme intrigued me because I always saw myself working within the NHS, but I just wasn’t sure how exactly to get into it. This programme gave me insight into how to pursue my dreams. 

The programme did ask a lot of you because it required work additional to our normal timetable. However, I did not mind as it was worth it. I enjoyed the placement part of the programme the most, even though there were some challenges to it. It allowed me to be in a setting I had never been in before, so I was forced to adapt to the environment, and it gave me the life skills to use in the future. It was very useful especially because of the fact I had just started my first job around this period too. I did two placements, one in the orthopaedic surgery ward and then the other in A&E. These both took place in the Royal Berkshire Hospital. My favourite placement was A&E, as I am really interested in emergency medicine. It was a very fast paced environment with lots of things going on as you’dexpect. I learned a lot when going on rounds with the doctors and nurses. The experience was varied, for example I observed a bone reduction, which is where a practitioner sets someone’s broken bone back into place without the need to make an incision. In this case it was somebody’s broken collar bone. The staff were also lovely, welcoming and educational. 

I won’t forget the lovely nurse who I shadowed the whole day when I did the orthopaedic surgery placement, she taught me so much and was so kind to me. Once you have finished the skills training and placement part of the programme, you are then invited to a graduation to celebrate the success and completion of the course, you are then part of the RCN cadet alumni. 

On our last day of training,we were invited to write a speech for the celebration event. I’ve always been one to love words and writing, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to write a small piece.  I wrote about my challenges and achievements I have faced in life; I wrote about how important this programme was to me and how it gave me a way of achieving my aspirations. I also wrote about the NHS, how taxing it is for all their workers but how rewarding it is to be part of and that if we have more young, inspirational people who are passionate about it, it will be in good hands in the future. 

I didn’t expect everyone to love the speech as much as they did. It was one of my proudest moments and led me to the opportunity of becoming an ambassador for the RCN King’s nursing cadet programme. This has truly been one of the best things I have been a part of, and I am eternally blessed for that. I have had the opportunity to attend many events in the beautiful London RCN headquarters building, and have met many people including Victoria Atkins MP, who is a former health and social care secretary of state. 

These experiences havehelped shape me into the woman I am today and helped me start my career in the NHS. I was really fed up with working in retail and wanted to pursue my dream of working in the NHS when my application to become a Pharmacy Healthcare Assistant was successful to get to interview. In the interview they were impressed by the work I’d undertaken as part of the programme and led to me getting the job.

If you show some dedication, anything is indeed possible. It’s been eight months now that I have been working as a pharmacy healthcare assistant in the NHS. It definitely comes with its challenges, but I love it, because it gives me a purpose and I have a career path I can follow.  Three years ago when I was looking up to the NHS and hoping I could be part of it, and now here I am delivering patient centered care with a passion every single day.