Apprenticeship Week 2025 – let’s meet Lynn

Lynn Martin, our Corneoplastic Unit Manager, has worked in the health and social care service for 45 years. Whilst looking for answers to problems caused by COVID, she developed a pathway that has changed the course of other people’s careers.

Back in 2020, Lynn was having trouble filling vacant positions. She had been reliant on in-house training and recruiting people into the Trust. But COVID was making this difficult to do.

Lynn looked to the apprenticeship model as a new way to solve the problem.

“We were one of the first to do this, on the clinical side. And the first at QVH with healthcare apprenticeships.

“We looked at the needs of the department, looked at what roles we trying to recruit into – which was a staff nurse position initially. We just couldn’t get one. We looked at training courses, then we looked at the apprenticeship route – the healthcare scientist one, and the ophthalmic part of it.

“The ophthalmic module meant that people could go on it but also stay in our department. The other way to progress was to go along the Nursing Associate route but that meant they have to leave the department – and no one wanted to do that.”

Lynn says one of the most important aspects of the apprenticeship programmes, are how they offer colleagues already here at QVH a way to progress.

Lynn added; “These apprenticeships are for people already in the Trust. The first batch were for permanent members of the team: Band 3 ophthalmic technicians who took on the Level 4 healthcare scientist apprenticeship and are now senior healthcare scientists/ophthalmic technicians.”

With another colleague going through to a Level 6 apprenticeship soon, the pathway has proved a real success.

“We are creating our own home-grown healthcare professionals, tailored to the needs of the department. It is really good for development, for confidence, for morale.

“It’s good for new starters too, they can see they have opportunities to develop. I’ve got a couple coming in soon – and one of them is already talking about doing the apprenticeship. Word is getting out!”

For more information about apprenticeships please email QVH.apprenticeships@nhs.net