The two recipients of the 2019 James Paget Nursing and Midwifery Scholarships have been congratulated by our Head of Education and Practice Development Sharon Crowle.
Cerys Humphries, 18, from Gorleston (right), who will beginning training to become a nurse at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in September and Lucy Fenwick, 20, from Lowestoft (left), who will start training to become a midwife in the same month, were both selected from applicants for this year’s scholarship to receive funding towards completing their courses.
The Paget Nursing Scholarship was launched in 2018 as one of a number of initiatives to encourage individuals to consider becoming nurses at the James Paget and was set up by the hospital in conjunction with the UEA, where the students will study when not on placement in the hospital.
As last year, financial support will be provided to two students to help them with their studies but this year one will be studying nursing and one midwifery, to encourage staff in both fields.
Head of Education and Practice Development Sharon Crowle said; “The scholarship is aimed at people from the Great Yarmouth and Waveney area who have always harboured an ambition to become a nurse or midwife at their local hospital but may have been put off from going onto the three-year course because of the tuition fees. The scholarship will provide some financial support that will hopefully make their dream a reality. The scholarship is just one of the initiatives we have started to boost recruitment into health care, alongside our Health Academy and offering additional training to our staff to help develop their careers.”
Cerys, who was successful in her application having just completed our senior Health Academy programme, and Lucy, who has wanted to become a midwife since she was 14, both went through an application and interview process to be the ones chosen for the financial awards.
Cerys said the Health Academy had helped confirm that she wanted a career at the hospital. “I’ve really enjoyed getting to know about different health care roles and the sessions confirmed to me that I wanted to become a nurse. Within three or four sessions I’d learnt a lot about the values of the NHS and it was really interesting to hear from different professionals about the work they do.”
Lucy said she was excited about the prospect of becoming a midwife. “I’d seen the scholarship advertised via Facebook and decided to apply for the opportunity. I applied with little confidence that I would get it, but securing the award and the place at the UEA has given me a real boost.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about the scholarships can e-mail nursingscholarship@jpaget.nhs.uk .