In just one year energetic Emily Stubbs has shown how far you can climb when you are pursuing your dream, for the bubbly 18 year old took a role at City Hospital as an apprentice and has now landed a permanent job as an assistant physiologist.
It’s a family affair for Emily working in the NHS as her mum works as a ward sister at Sandwell Hospital, her dad is a senior capacity manager at City Hospital, and her sister works for West Midlands Ambulance Service.
She laughed: “Nearly everyone in my family works for the NHS! We sometimes joke that we are a mini hospital. Even my nan used to work for the NHS.”
Emily was quick to impress bosses at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust with her creativity and hard work – by designing a specialist checklist and log to keep track of the tools needed within the respiratory team where she works.
She explained: “I came up with the idea of the log to help our service run more smoothly, and also helped design another checklist to ensure that we have all the details we need when we send equipment to other departments, helping us communicate more effectively. Luckily, my ideas have been well received by the team and have already been implemented.”
However, what has excited Emily the most whilst working at the Trust, are the people she has met. She said: “In our department, we help patients who have difficulty breathing during sleep.
“As I work on the front desk and also help with the clinic, I meet patients on their first visit and am able to witness their progress on following visits as they gradually get better. It’s a worthwhile feeling as you know that you have been part of their recovery and I feel really proud of my team.”
Emily finished her apprenticeship earlier this year and knew what career she wanted to pursue. She said: “After I finished the apprenticeship, my interest for respiratory care had been ignited and I wanted to advance in this field. So when the team advertised the assistant physiologist role, I did not hesitate to apply.
“I am very excited about my new role, as not only do I get to do more clinical work, I also go on courses to learn further knowledge and skills to help me to do my job well. I definitely would like to be a specialist in the respiratory field as I want to help people get better.”
Emily would encourage other young people to consider an apprenticeship at the Trust. “I really think an apprenticeship is a great opportunity to give you the experience that you need. You will never know if you like the career if you don’t give it a try. I felt very supported during my apprenticeship, and can highly recommend the scheme.”
If you would like to apply for the apprenticeship, please contact Libby Marshall, Apprenticeship Co-ordinator, at: libby.marshall@nhs.net
