Hi, I’m Mark and I work in the Women and Child Health division at the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust. I first started working in healthcare at Brentwood in Little Highwood after qualifying in 2002. I’ve spent over 17 years in the NHS, and 10 of these have been here at Queen’s Hospital in Romford.

There are many different aspects to my role and tasks range from being in the theatre and assisting with c-sections, through to making sure everything is done correctly for elective surgery. I’m also involved in team briefings, data analysis and checking the capacity of all areas.

I’ve worked in healthcare for over 25 years, I just love making people better. What actually inspired me to get into nursing was knowing that I could make a difference. Our Trust puts the patients first. Queen’s Hospital was purpose built exactly for this and incorporates key process from industries outside of healthcare. I think that this innovative thinking and patient-focused care is why it’s been ranked one of the best maternity departments in the country.

Nursing is packed full of rewarding moments that will stay with you for the rest of your life. I often recall being there to save the life of a woman who was dying from internal bleeding. It was a wonderful and very humbling surprise when, after her recovery, she came back to the hospital to thank me.

It’s rare that people can say they love their job and I’m one of the lucky few. I’m able to work alongside a talented team of midwives in excellent facilities, with opportunity after opportunity for career progression. Education and training courses are here for the taking and it’s great that we are so openly encouraged to move our careers forward. Onwards and upwards, I say!

Hi, I’m Vijay and I’m a senior sister at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust. I have been practicing as a nurse for 16 years and qualified in India in 2000, and then in England in 2004, where I worked in various other NHS roles.

I started with our Trust in April 2016. Having previously lived in the countryside in Somerset, I decided I wanted to move to London. Ultimately, the city had much greater career prospects and more robust training opportunities. Plus, it was my dream to work in a big hospital whilst training, so I have Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust to thank for making that a reality!

My role is on the Harvest A ward, a new elderly short stay ward with 31 beds. I deal with all kinds of problems, such as when elderly people can’t cope at home. Working on this ward there was a particularly memorable occasion supporting a patient that was dying. The family were so grateful that they offered to donate a comfy chair to the hospital for other families to use.

I really enjoy working at our Trust and my favourite part of it is the educational training service. You get the best of both worlds as it’s all done online through e-learning, as well as face-to-face.

When it comes to our Trust, we know we’ll always get listened to, whatever role we’re in. Our Trust has a great support system in place for new starters and this, fantastic career and educational prospects, as well such friendly and caring staff. So many reasons to join.

Hi, I’m Elita and I’m a clinical audit midwife. I trained in Italy in 2007, first working in Panama, Placenza and then decided to join Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust in 2011 when they advertised midwife vacancies in Italy.

Many of my family members are nurses and I’ve always wanted to work in a hospital. It was not until later on that I decided that I wanted to become a midwife. I really enjoy working at our Trust, the staff have all been so welcoming to me as an overseas midwife.

My overall responsibility is to facilitate and support midwifery and medical staff in the audit process. Auditing involves reviewing the care we provide and we compare it against both national and local standards. However, things in maternity can change very quickly. One day you may be assisting a woman giving birth in our midwifery LED unit, then you can be part of a MDT dealing with an obstetric emergency, and later you may be supporting a mother celebrating the joy of a new pregnancy in the antenatal booking clinic.

In this job, you need to be really passionate and I am committed to making a difference within the Trust. Equally, there are people who have made a difference to my life and one of those is my mentor, Tracy. She’s fantastic and always helps me to develop my skills and knowledge. It’s so motivating career-wise to have someone as an example to look up to.

Our Trust is always looking at innovation and has given me many great training opportunities through different internal and external courses. I’m currently studying for a Master’s degree in Supervision whilst working. I’ve also been on a course for breastfeeding support.

I really enjoy working in our hospitals ; I have always felt welcome and lucky to have been able to work in various midwife roles, despite English not being my first language. Six years on from when I started here I am now even more motivated to come to work and make a difference to people’s lives.

I’ve worked for Trust Temps for the last three years and I love the variety of what I do. I’ve worked in lots of departments, Outpatients’, A&E, Maternity, and on the wards. It helps me understand what all our departments do and see the journey of our patients first-hand.

Although I’ve been in this role a relatively short amount of time, I started at the Trust 18 years ago and took time out to have my children. I’ve got three daughters who are now 15, and triplets – so I really valued how supportive and flexible the Trust was when I returned to work, and it’s that which has made me want to stay.