Course Studied: Level 5 Nursing Associate Apprenticeship
My Story:
After starting work as a healthcare assistant in 2013, Leila looked for opportunities to progress, by taking a healthcare course two years later and then in 2019 found the opportunity to do the Nursing Associate Higher Level Apprenticeship at the University Centre which she started in 2020. With the support of the University Centre, Leila has been able to study her course, live with her family in her home county and continue being paid in her current role as a healthcare assistant. As Leila’s skills in nursing has grown, so have her aspirations for her future career.
Leila said: “Now that I am qualified my pay has gone up and I can take on a lot more skills, which is brilliant. I get to be involved in childhood immunisation and cervical smears now, because I have a PIN with the NMC.
“If it wasn’t an apprenticeship route, I just wouldn’t have been able to do it. I’ve kept my pay throughout the whole course, so it’s been amazing. I couldn’t have asked for better. Going away to university wouldn’t have been an option now, not with family.
“They’re not just lecturers at the University Centre, they are really good friends now and I hope to keep in touch with them forever. They were phenomenal. They would message you at all hours to make sure you’re alright. They went above and beyond.
“I’m staying at the surgery, and they are going to put me through my fully registered nurse degree at the University Centre next September.
“I want to be a registered nurse and eventually a nurse practitioner, which is one up again. The long-term goal is to be a partner in the practice I work in.”
Leila graduated in 2022 and was awarded the University of Greenwhich Academic Partnership Prize for her academic progress on her course.
