One of our hospital’s first Occupational Therapy (OT) apprentices has qualified and started an OT rotation at the James Paget, after achieving first class honours with the highest score of her cohort.
Sophie Pegg, who also picked up our Paget’s People Apprentice of the Year Award in 2022, has excelled in qualifying, and now she is looking forward to progressing her career and encouraging others to consider the apprenticeship path.
Sophie started at our hospital in 2016 as a part-time newborn hearing screener – carrying out audio tests on newborn babies to check their hearing. She became a Therapy Assistant Practitioner in 2017 and when the apprenticeship was offered as an opportunity for our Assistant Practitioners to progress their careers, Sophie was one of those who successfully applied.
She completed her apprenticeship in Acute Medicine and would like to thank everyone who has helped her.
“They are a brilliant team and I have been really supported by everyone. There have been a lot of changes in the three years I’ve been training, but I’ve really enjoyed doing the apprenticeship with the team and it was really helpful to learn the theory and then do practical work – it allowed me to learn something on Tuesday and then be able to relate it to something real on Wednesday.”
Sophie successfully managed to complete the apprenticeship, and achieve first class honours, around her work and her life – she moved house four times over the three-year period.
“It was all about prioritising. Sometimes when I knew I had to get an essay done I had to say no to social events but it was also about being kind to myself and saying I can do family or social things at other times. I’m really chuffed that it has all paid off and that I’m now qualified.”
The hospital has several teams of Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists to support patients, helping them to adapt, recover and improve after surgery, stroke, heart conditions or respiratory problems, to mobilise during and after hospital stays, to assist with acute medical issues and to help patients get back to everyday living.
Our OTs work in many different areas, including our Stroke Unit, Early Intervention Team (A&E and the Emergency Assessment/ Discharge Unit), Cardiology/Respiratory/Surgery (CRS), Orthopaedics – Trauma and Elective surgery, Paediatrics - Community and Children’s Ward, and Acute Medicine, and it is this variety that Sophie was drawn to.
She has now started as a rotational Occupational Therapist, who will work between different teams and departments, and is currently with our Orthopaedic team, working closely with Ward 6.
“Becoming an Occupational Therapist means you can work anywhere. Through my work as a Therapy Assistant Practitioner and the apprenticeship I have a good understanding of acute medicine and respiratory medicine, and now I’m enjoying orthopaedics and looking forward to spending time in paediatrics.
“I would recommend an apprenticeship, and particularly an Occupational Therapy apprenticeship, to anyone who might be interested. I couldn’t have afforded not to work while I was learning and the apprenticeship really suited me and helped me achieve as I could apply the learning in a really practical way. It also opens a door for so many people to retrain, as you don’t have to be young or fresh out of education to do an apprenticeship. Many of those training with me were in their 30s, 40s or 50s, so it is a way to a new career.”
The James Paget is currently looking at creating more opportunities to support Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy apprentices in the future and we will publicise more details when we have them.