Harriet’s apprenticeship journey: from hair to healthcare
A nurse who started off her working life as a hairdresser is reliving her journey as part of National Apprenticeship Week (7-13 February).
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust is home to almost 370 apprentices of all ages, across clinical and non-clinical areas in the hospitals.
Harriet Andrews has been a qualified nurse since October, but the 25-year-old, from Burnham-on-Crouch, originally started on a very different career path - hairdressing.
She completed a hairdressing apprenticeship after leaving school at the age of 16, but after realising she wanted to take care of more than just a person’s hair, she gave it the chop after three years and switched to nursing.
Harriet said: “At the salon, I found I loved chatting with the older people who came in. It brought out a caring side in me and I was drawn to the idea of nursing, even though I’d originally been convinced that nursing wasn’t for me. I hated the sight of blood.”
Since then Harriet hasn’t looked back. After joining the healthcare assistant (HCA) training programme at the Basildon Hospital in 2015, she achieved the HCA care certificate before starting the apprenticeship scheme.
Harriet’s experience working on Elizabeth Fry Ward, the renal ward at Basildon Hospital, convinced her she wanted to become a nurse. She started working towards a level 3 qualification in anatomy and physiology, so she could apply for a place on a foundation degree to become a registered nurse.
She then went on to study for her associate practitioner training with Anglia Ruskin University in 2017, while still being employed by the Trust.
Harriet said: “That meant that I could continue working on the ward while I studied. It involved a combination of practical days and completing theory hours. I graduated the course in 2018 and got a job as an associate practitioner on Elizabeth Fry Ward.”
In May 2019 Harriet was accepted to the nurse degree apprenticeship. She worked and studied throughout Covid, doing the majority of her course virtually, finally qualifying as a nurse in October 2021.
Now she is working where it all started, on Elizabeth Fry Ward, the place where she began her nursing career as an HCA six years ago.
Harriet said: “I absolutely love working on this ward. They made me feel part of the team right from the very beginning, and I couldn’t have asked for a better ward to support me during those six years. I’m so proud that I both started and finished my studying with them.
“And now I’m finally working as a registered nurse, supporting others doing the very same courses that I completed, and helping nurture the next generation of nurses.”
To find out more about apprenticeship opportunities at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, please email mse.apprenticeships@nhs.net.