MACCLESFIELD Hospital needs YOU!

A campaign to coax teenagers back into nursing has been relaunched after almost 40 years.

Macclesfield Hospital has reintroduced a cadet initiative in the hope of luring youngsters back into an ailing profession.

An "Angels" apprenticeship - which would pay £50 a week in the first year and £80 a week in the second - would prepare young people for a career in or out of the hospital but within the NHS.

Nurse cadets were introduced in the Sixties and many of Macclesfield's current senior members of staff began their career as young cadets.

And now, 35 years after she began her own career at Macclesfield Hospital as a cadet, Sister Chris Brereton is helping to reintroduce the scheme to welcome students who are interested in a nursing career.

Among the first batch of students to join up may be 16-year-old Katy Robinson who has just left Tytherington High School. She heard about the scheme at a careers fair and was introduced to two former cadets who have been nursing since the scheme began.

Chris Jervis, manager of Congleton and Knutsford Hospitals, said: "Be committed, work hard and enjoy it. The world is your oyster. Cadets can work in the hospital, in the community or with children, there are all sorts of things."

Teenagers between 16 and 19 years of age can become a cadet to gain both practical experience and an NVQ qualification to enable them to progress on to further training if they wish.

Chris was in the second cadet wave at Macclesfield Hospital, starting in 1968 when she was just 16.

She recalls her first day as a cadet feeling like a "stray" with a blue checked dress down to her ankles and a starched apron.

"I enjoyed it from the start," she said. "It was the beginning of my working life. You feel nervous when you begin anything, but it was definitely nice to be part of it."

Chris initially worked in the department dealing with sterile supplies, in physio and medical records before moving on to the children's, female, geriatric and medical wards.

While working on the children's ward, Chris had to deal with many youngsters who had disabilities and clearly remembers the day a Down's Syndrome baby died on the ward.

However, following years of experience, she now has a mature approach to her job.

"You have to just put things into perspective," she said. "Some cadets didn't stay on but I was determined."

Once the cadet course had ended, Chris worked as a nursing auxiliary and waited for the formal nurse training which began in 1970.

Cadets must be between 16 and 19 years of age. Candidates must have completed statutory education and to be able to show evidence of having passed GCSEs and/or a vocational equivalent.

  • If you are interested in becoming a cadet or for more information about the scheme please contact the NHS Academy of Vocational Excellence on 0151 477 5954, or contact Mike Smith at Macclesfield Hospital on 01625 661981.