Hear what our staff say about working here

National Apprenticeship Week, coordinated by the National Apprenticeship Service, is designed to celebrate apprenticeships and the positive impact they have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy.

To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week 2018 (NAW 2018), from 5 to 9 March 2018, we spoke to First Community apprentice, Amber Smith.

Amber is completing a 13 month apprenticeship placement at First Community as part of her Level 2 Business and Administration course with East Surrey College supported by Skills for Health.

Deciding to do an apprenticeship

“I never got on very well with college and it was not the way I wanted to learn. I didn’t really enjoy spending time in classrooms and being given assignments to go away and write. I decided that the best path for me was to do an apprenticeship.

I applied for a few positions and I was invited to interview at First Community. I liked the feel of the organisation straight away. Everyone that I met during the interview process was friendly and approachable. It was also local and easy to get to so I felt very comfortable coming here.”

Experience so far

“So far my time at First Community has been a really good experience. It’s always busy and there are lots of different things to do. I do a variety of day-to-day tasks and I like helping the different teams. I’ve done lots of new things like work for the annual Quality Improvement Day and updating the learning management system for staff.

I’ve learnt a lot of different skills since starting at First Community. I’m generally quite a quiet person but this has given me the confidence to talk to new people. I have also learnt a lot about the NHS and the different programmes that it offers which is something I knew very little about before.”

The benefits of an apprenticeship

“I would recommend an apprenticeship to anyone who is interested. You are in the work environment and getting hands on experience. You are earning while learning, which means no debt and it is a really good, practical option. You get to apply your learning directly to the job.”

Adele is about to qualify as student nurse and is completing her management placement in First Community’s District Nursing Team.

Find out what she thinks about her experience.

Returning to study

“I started in the 0-19 Team at First Community as a Community Nursery Nurse. I had that job for 10 years before I decided to take the next step and do my nurse training.

First Community sponsored me and provided me with lots of support. I’ve met with them frequently to make sure I’m keeping up-to-date with my study.”

Completing placements

“Currently I’m on my final placement which is my management placement. It gets us used to the working life so we don’t have so much of a support system beneath us. I have a mentor and we discuss my caseload and I’m allowed to go out and about on my own.

When that first happened I was terrified but, now I’ve been doing that for 10 weeks, I’m used to it.”

Rising to the challenge

“Getting back into education has been tough but I have exceeded my expectations and am pleased that I have been doing so well. It’s been a really good process for me and I wish I had done it sooner.”

Learning ethos

"When I made the decision to do my nurse training I was gutted because I really liked my job and I loved the ethos of First Community.

We are not just a number, we are real people and we are listened to, cared for and nurtured. I’m really pleased to be staying on at First Community because I love what it means to me.”