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The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH) has scooped a prestigious award for the way it supports the Armed Forces community.

The Trust is one of 50 employers across the country to have received the Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Gold Award from the Ministry of Defence.

Gold is the highest badge of honour for employers who actively support the Armed Forces community in their workplace and also encourage others to follow their lead.

It comes after NNUH piloted Step into Health in 2014, which has since been adopted nationally by NHS Employers, to provide a dedicated pathway for the Armed Forces community to access career opportunities in the NHS.

Julia Watling, Workforce Development Programme Manager for NNUH, said the Gold Award was the culmination of years of hard work.

“The Gold is the pinnacle of everything we do from supporting employment opportunities to ensuring members of the Armed Forces and their families are not disadvantaged when they need healthcare.

We also support our reservists in a number of ways, including providing additional leave to support their training and recognising the need for flexibility when colleagues are to be deployed.”

Jeremy Over, Director of Workforce at NNUH, added: “We are fully committed to supporting the Armed Forces and we are proud to receive this prestigious award. There is clear alignment between the values of the Armed Forces and our values.”

Dave Willey (pictured above) joined the NNUH in June 2018 after 38 years working in the RAF as an aircraft technician.

He attended a Step into Health event at the hospital in November 2017 and carried out three weeks work experience before successfully applying for a Deputy Admin Manager role in the Urology department.

He said he wanted to put his skills to good use for the NHS after staff at NNUH saved his mother’s life three years ago. He added that the RISE (Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence) values of the RAF were very similar to NNUH’s PRIDE (People-focused, Respect, Integrity, Dedication, Excellence) values.

“I am really enjoying it. It is such a big site and I am playing a small part whether that’s giving directions to someone or sorting out a referral for a patient.

I was not ready to put my feet up and retire and this job has got my grey matter going and this has been very good for me. The NHS and RAF are similar in that you need to be willing to work hard, being a team and to strive towards excellence.

The RAF’s resettlement programme is superb with what they offer to people to reintegrate to civilian life and the Step into Health programme links in very well with that.”

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