Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals were delighted to win an award for Collaborative Recruitment of the Armed Forces Community at the first Step into Health awards last week.
The Step into Health programme connects NHS organisations to talent from the Armed Forces community. The awards celebrate the work of employers who support the Step into Health programme and acknowledge the successes of individuals who have been through the programme.
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals were awarded for the Trust’s project work, undertaken to embed Step into Health across the Surrey Heartlands Strategic Transformation Partnership. This included organising insight events aimed at serving personnel, veterans and spouses, helping to give military personnel an understanding of the careers available in the NHS. Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals Chief Executive, Suzanne Rankin, and Interim Chief Nurse, Andrea Lewis, have supported these events to share their own stories of transition from the military into leadership roles in the NHS. Feedback from military personnel has been extremely positive.
Danny Mortimer, Chief Executive of NHS Employers, said; "I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all the winners and finalists, and indeed, to all those who were nominated. Your work is extremely valuable, and the NHS would be the poorer without it. There's no greater pool of talent than within the armed forces community, and it's great to see how much the NHS has benefited from being able to access it."
Suzanne says; "Ashford and St Peter’s was one of the first thirty NHS organisations in the country to show our commitment to the Step into Health programme. As I know from my own experience and that of colleagues, there is an incredible amount of transferable skills and cultural values that are very closely compatible and aligned with those in the NHS. I draw on my military experience every day and I have found my time in the NHS to date incredibly rewarding. Therefore I would encourage any ex-military personnel to be a part of the programme and to pursue a role within the NHS."
Finalists were invited to a reception at Kensington Palace with the Duke of Cambridge and then attended the awards ceremony on the 10th March. Richard Wooley, Theatre Team Leader, who led the project last year and Colleen Sherlock, Assistant Director of HR, Corporate Services attended on behalf of Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals’.
Pictured above from left to right: Richard Wooley, Theatre Team Leader and Colleen Sherlock, Assistant Director of HR, Corporate Services
