National Apprentice Week: Woman quit cabin crew for front line of NHS

Lisa Desbruslais quit being a member of cabin crew to work at the Queen Victoria at East Grinstead

A woman who worked as an air stewardess has spoken about her experience after joining the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lisa Desbruslais now works at the Queen Victoria Hospital, in East Grinstead, as a nurse apprentice.

Speaking to BBC South East, she said that there are "a lot of people my age on apprenticeships at university. They are available to people of all ages.

"You don't have to be 16 to be an apprentice."

The NHS has over 120,000 open vacancies, which has been described as an "enduring problem".

But apprenticeships are proving to be more popular now, with a mixture of on-the-job training and education being offered.

James Lowell, the chief executive of the Queen Victoria Hospital, was also an apprentice when he started out.

"There is a real need for us to think about our staffing in the future here in the NHS," he said.

"Apprenticeships are a great way of being able to make sure we can recruit local people, who want to work and earn money, but also progress and get an education."

Chief nurse Nicola Reeves did an apprenticeship with the NHS when she joined 40 years ago

Chief nurse Nicola Reeves was also an apprentice when she began with the NHS.

She said: "I went through practical training when I started 40 years ago and there are similarities without a doubt.

"I think these apprenticeships give us a chance to train staff at a level and a pace that suits them."

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