Meet Alicia: “I started my career as a Support Worker within the NHS in 1999”

Meet Alicia, Nursing Support Worker at our Becton Centre. 

Alicia is one of our fantastic Nursing Support Workers at Sheffield Children’s! Today we’re celebrating all of our amazing Nursing Support Workers at Sheffield Children’s for their outstanding contribution to nursing teams, patients, families and carers, as part of Nursing Support Workers Day!

Here is Alicia to tell us more about the job she does:

Tell us about your career journey and why you decided to become a Nursing Support Worker. 

I decided to become a Nursing Support Worker because I’ve always enjoyed helping people, plus I really admired my Nans compassion, caring nature and dedication to her work and she was a Support Worker in the NHS for 40 years, I decided to follow in her footsteps by joining the NHS.  

I started my career as a Support Worker within the NHS in 1999. I initially started working with the elderly and then moved on to supporting adults with learning disabilities. The last 11 years of my career have been based at Ruby Lodge within the Becton Centre for Children and Young People.  

What does your role involve? 

I have been at Ruby Lodge since the first day it opened in 2011 and my role focuses on supporting children and young people with learning disabilities and autism. My main tasks involve helping with the day to day running of the lodge and supporting the young people through the assessment process – this takes place whilst patients are on the inpatient ward. I then liaise with the nursing team and multi-disciplinary teams to ensure patients receive the care they need. 

As a Nursing Support Worker, what are you most proud of? 

The thing I am most proud of has to be that in November 2021 I received a nomination from my manager for a Healthcare Support Worker award. There were 84 nominations across four categories, and I was fortunate enough to win the Wellbeing at Work award. I felt so proud to have been nominated by my manager and that all the years of hard work and dedication I had shown through working as a Support Worker, especially in supporting the wellbeing of my colleagues was recognised. 

We are extremely thankful to all of our Nursing Support Workers for their amazing work and care for our children and young people! 

To find out more about what it means to be a Support Worker and whether it’s the career path for you, why not pop along to our open day on Wednesday 14 December or apply for a support worker role now – see NHS jobs for details: https://www.nhsjobs.com/job/UK/South_Yorkshire/Sheffield/Sheffield_Childrens_NHS_Foundation_Trust/Helena_Specialist_Nursing_Team/Helena_Specialist_Nursing_Team-v4802089