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This week is National Apprenticeship Week (7-13 February) and Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust is home to almost 370 apprentices.

The apprentices are of all ages and cover a wide-range of areas across the Trust, in both clinical and non-clinical areas. Here is Michael’s apprenticeship journey.

Going from maintaining military aircraft for the United States Air Force (USAF) to taking care of complex medical equipment in an acute hospital might seem a world apart, but it has more in common than you‘d think.

Both have rigorous standards to uphold, and people’s lives depend on the engineer behind the machine. Michael Kitchen is that engineer, and is now an apprentice in that area at Basildon Hospital.

The 54-year-old originally comes from the state of Ohio, and was an aircraft engineer for 24 years in the USAF, and was based for 14 years at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.

Michael, from Canvey, now works in medical equipment management services (MEMS), where a team of specialist technicians maintain, repair and test a vast range of medical equipment, including vital signs monitors, imaging equipment and infusion devices.

He said: “I was 48 when I started going into an apprenticeship, it was painful at first, as I had to get back into the maths side of things which I hadn’t done for ages.

“But, the team were really supportive and gave me time to study and if I had any questions they were on hand to help me.

“I enjoy being a vital part of the Trust by fixing the machines that help patients recover.

“The apprenticeship has changed my perspective, I now see it’s not just doctors and nurses who make a difference, it’s also the people working behind the scenes like porters and what I do that keeps a hospital running.”

And now his career is soaring, thanks to the apprenticeship Michael is now working in the team as one of three MEMS technicians.

To find out more about apprenticeship opportunities at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, please email mse.apprenticeships@nhs.net.