Nursing

This video describes the great opportunities for nurses in Oxleas and how the trust can help people to build nursing careers even when they start out with no nursing qualifications.

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Phil:
I’m Phil Garnham and I’m joint head of nursing at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.

Oxleas is a good place to be a nurse because we have a lot of great people who enjoy working here, and we have a great track record of supporting nurses in a variety of different aspects of nursing. These include: learning and development opportunities, we have good clinical supervision and mentoring, there are secondments to nurse training for HCAs, as well as supporting nurse training through bodies such as the Open University.

Within the trust there are many different nursing roles, including: working in the community with adults, children and older adults, inpatient wards, rehabilitation units, services for people with learning disabilities and even as trainers.

We recognise that people are our most valuable resource and we see the value in supporting them to develop. People join us for different reasons and much of our talent is home grown. Many commit to Oxleas over a long period of time. You don’t have to have any nursing qualifications to launch a nursing career at Oxleas. And remember there are many interesting areas of nursing that you could discover at Oxleas, some of which you may not have even thought of as being right for you. An example of this is Aileen.

Aileen:
My name is Aileen Rainsbury, I’m currently working as acting substance misuse coordinator four days a week and one day a week as a counsellor at Belmarsh Prison.

In 1992 I lost my garden centre business and joined the trust as a housekeeper. I was encouraged to change to nursing because I had good interpersonal skills, so I became a HCA - health care assistant.

I have spent over 14 years as a HCA/support worker and during that time I trained as a counsellor supported by Oxleas. They also helped me to develop my interest in the treatment of substance misuse. I have felt very supported in the time I have worked for the trust on both a professional and personal basis, and feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to develop a new career that I really love and find rewarding.

Phil:
At Oxleas we pride ourselves with being a very friendly, supportive and positive environment and our staff thoroughly enjoy their careers here. If you have have ever thought about a career in nursing or are looking to progress your nursing career please contact us.