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East Kent Hospitals staff take starring role in biggest ever NHS recruitment drive

Watch the advert: Filmed at East Kent Hospitals

Find out about working at East Kent Hospitals

3 July 2018

Staff and patients from across East Kent Hospitals are the feature of the biggest NHS recruitment drive in its 70 year history.

Filmed in William Harvey and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother hospitals, the ‘We are the NHS’ campaign highlights the extraordinary work that staff across EKHUFT do every single day.

As one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a population of over one million people, EKHUFT was perfectly placed to demonstrate the care, cutting-edge treatments, research, innovations and life-saving operations that the campaign needed.

One of the staff members featured, Michelle Eaton, who works in the Cardiac Catheter Lab at William Harvey Hospital said: “I qualified as a nurse twenty years ago. I love my job and I work with a great team so it was really important to me to be part of a national campaign bringing more nurses into the profession.

“I started working as a general nurse, working across the different specialties in the hospital. I have tried different nursing roles in my career so far; there are so many you can try. I find cardiac nursing really rewarding because you have such a positive impact on patients.

“There are many more specialist nurses roles on offer to people today than when I first starting working in the NHS. It’s a really diverse and rewarding career, both within and outside the hospital.”

The campaign aims to increase the total number of applications into the NHS by 22,000 as well as double the numbers of nurses returning to practice and improve retention of staff in all sectors. It will recognise the incredible contribution and impact of NHS staff who treat over one million patients every 24 hours across the country in GP surgeries, hospitals and at home.

Caroline Mackenzie, a Surgical Matron at the William Hospital in Ashford, said: “I wanted to be a nurse since I was eight years old, as I saw the nurses who supported my granny as she was dying. I began training in the 1980s, and have worked here at the William Harvey ever since.

“I have been a nurse for 32 years, and every day is completely different but I love my job as much as I did when I was 18.

“I am keen to encourage others to take up a career in the NHS; it is diverse, there’s always something to learn and you can give so much. The opportunities are all around you.”

There are over 350 careers available within the NHS giving people an astonishing range of options

Susan Acott, East Kent Hospitals Chief Executive, added: “We have amazing staff here at East Kent Hospitals and this campaign has been a great opportunity for them to show the fantastic job they do every day to care for patients.

“Our nurses, doctors and therapists are superb, as are our admin staff and all the other people that support our clinicians and make the hospitals run.

“I hope the campaign will inspire more people to want to join the NHS and in particular come and work in east Kent.”

To watch the TV advert, head here. 

Click here to find out more about working at East Kent Hospitals