UNISON Rep John Kasensa is an assistant practitioner at Hellesdon Hospital in Norwich. In February he started his journey on the Nursing Degree Apprenticeship.

John came to the UK as a 22-year-old refugee from the Congo, settling in Norfolk, and has been working at the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust for five years, starting as a clinical support worker for four years, then qualifying as an assistant practitioner.

John explains his journey:

When I first settled in Norwich I found there was a language barrier so I went to college to learn English. I then volunteered for the British Red Cross doing first aid and started going to Carrow Road.”

John enjoyed the work and started to think it might be something he wanted to take further. A friend suggested healthcare agency work and, though John came from a background where mental health wasn’t spoken about and he first thought it sounded like a scary job, he soon found that it was about helping people and it fit well with his first aid training.

John said:

I’ve seen the trauma ­– through war and other things – and seen people struggling with their mental health, so it was something new for me to learn, and the longer I stayed with the agency I realised that this was the career I wanted to try.”

In 2012 John joined UNISON after a friend highlighted the benefits of being in a union. He said he had “incredible support from the branch over a particular issue” this resulted in John being more active within the branch and becoming their International Officer and a Health and Safety Rep, receiving lots of training through UNISON.

John joined the Trust as a permanent clinical support worker in 2013. In 2015 the opportunity came up for him to study whilst employed.

This was just the chance John needed and he knew he wanted to do something to further his career so took the opportunity to get the assistant practitioner qualification.

John said:

After that I secured a job as an assistant practitioner, and then this year the opportunity to do the Nursing Degree Apprenticeship came up. There are 15 of us on the course and we are the trust’s first group.”

John studies at university for 15 hours a week, then when on placement as a student nurse, while at work he continues with his assistant practitioner role. He is enjoying it and said he never expected that he would go back to studying and be able to work at the same time.

John has had two placements as part of the course, which has helped him develop his skills and experience. The first was working with dementia patients in Lowestoft, dementia was something he’d never come across before.

John explained:

The second placement is in the community, which is an incredible experience for me as my prior experience has been on wards. On wards you see people get discharged but you don’t know what happens afterwards, so now I know more about the referral system and how everything fits together.”

Colleagues are supportive of him doing the apprenticeship and have been happy to offer guidance and support – particularly with academic writing, something John struggled with at the beginning as he came from a French speaking country.

John would encourage others to take up the nursing apprenticeship next year if the offer arose.

John said:

There are people in the trust who have worked here for many years, and may feel that it’s too late to do something new. I tell them that they still have time and they already have a lot of experience which is an advantage.”

They might be thinking they’re working in healthcare and can’t afford to stop what they’re doing to go and study, so they might as well stay a support worker. I tell them that now the potential is there.”

Our employer is telling you that if you want to do this we’ll pay you while you study and we’ll pay for your course. I tell people they will never get another opportunity like this one, so that’s why I’m encouraging everyone to take the opportunity.”

John is looking forward to completing his apprenticeship so he can become a nurse and work in Norfolk focusing on the job and helping the health services.

John said:

In life sometimes you have to be thankful for an opportunity like this and to me I just feel really valued and I really appreciate it. If there were to be another opportunity after the degree, if I feel I’m capable of doing it then I’ll take it.”