Armed Forces Covenant – Meet Andrew!

It’s exactly one year since Sheffield Children’s announced that it had become a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant and become accredited as ‘Veteran Aware’ by the National Steering Group for the NHS Veteran Covenant Healthcare Alliance. So, what better way to celebrate than to highlight the achievements of one of our amazing staff members who is able to benefit from it?

Meet Andrew, Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response Manager at Sheffield Children’s. Alongside his civilian career at Sheffield Children’s, Andrew is a Sub-Lieutenant in the Sea Cadet Corps, where he is responsible for over 60 young people and 20 staff members.

In 2023, Andrew reached 12 years of service as an adult volunteer in the Cadet Forces and was therefore eligible for the Cadet Forces Medal – an honour afforded to uniformed cadet forces adult volunteers who have served for this amount of time. Having now received his medal, Andrew talked all about his experience balancing his life as an adult volunteer in the Sea Cadets alongside his career at Sheffield Children’s.

Andrew said: “It was great to be recognised and to receive this medal. I’ve been part of the cadet forces since I was a teenager, so it has been a really big part of my life for almost as long as I can remember. The additional leave granted to me by the Armed Forces Covenant allows me to balance my responsibilities alongside my role at Sheffield Children’s. I’m really grateful for the support of the Trust, as without this additional leave it would be very difficult to balance both roles.”

Andrew’s role at Sheffield Children’s

Andrew has been at Sheffield Children’s for two years and works alongside the Chief Operating Officer at Sheffield Children’s to make sure that the Trust has plans in place for significant incidents and that colleagues that are required to respond to these incidents are appropriately trained. He has been able to draw on many of the transferable skills that he has accumulated serving as part of the Sea Cadets to his role at Sheffield Children’s.

Andrew said: “My experience within the Sea Cadets really gave me leadership and management skills that I’ve been able to put into practice in my civilian job at Sheffield Children’s. It was a steep learning curve to have such a responsibility at a young age, but it meant that I got very good at keeping calm in a crisis.”

Life in the Sea Cadets

Established in 1856, the Sea Cadets are a national charity supporting young people across the country to achieve their potential through challenge and nautical adventure sponsored by the Royal Navy. There are a total of 14,000 cadets forming 400 Sea Cadets units across the country, one of which is based in Sheffield.

Andrew’s family has a long history of military service, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that this played a major role in his decision to join the sea cadets at the age of 13. However, this twist of fate actually came from an entirely different source.

Andrew said: “Many of my family members come from an armed forces or public service background. In fact, my grandfather and great-grandfather served in the Royal Navy during the second world war. This wasn’t the driving force behind joining up, though. It was actually my friends at school who were the ones that pushed me to go as a teenager, and I’ve never looked back since!”

Andrew now volunteers as an adult, supporting young people across Sheffield to achieve their potential.

Andrew said: “I’ve taken on much more responsibility in my current role. I’m now  second-in-command at the Sheffield Unit. It’s a lot to have taken on, which is where the support that I received at Sheffield Children’s has been very helpful.”

Sheffield Children’s and the Armed Forces Covenant

Signing the Armed Forces Covenant signifies a commitment to making sure that those who serve or who have previously served as part of the Armed Forces, and their families, are treated with compassion and respect through the care that Sheffield Children’s provides and as part of the Trust’s aim to be a brilliant place to work.

As part of the Armed Forces Covenant, Andrew is now entitled to two additional weeks of leave, one paid and one unpaid. This offer has meant that Andrew is able to balance the responsibilities of his role as part of the Sea Cadets with his civilian role at Sheffield Children’s.

Andrew said: “In more recent years I’ve taken more responsibility at work. Some days are busy, but it has definitely helped that we have these additional days that we can take to make it all work.”

Reaching new heights

During his time at the sea cadets, Andrew has visited a number of memorable places, but one area holds a special place above all others. Andrew said: “As a cadet, I was fortunate enough to visit the Royal Naval Air Station in Yeovilton, where we spent a week flying with the Fleet Air Arm. It was amazing, we were flying with navy pilots. It’s an experience that I’ll never forget.”

We’d like to thank Andrew for speaking with us and offer a huge Sheffield Children’s congratulations on being recognised for his service as part of the Sea Cadets.