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They have won the Star of the Future award

A pair of talented apprentices have received a prestigious NHS award and are encouraging other people to consider following them into health service roles.

Lucy Beaumont and Phoebe Edwards have received the Star(s) of the Future Award at the East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) Staff Awards 2022.

Lucy and Phoebe are podiatry apprentices with the Trust’s Bedfordshire Community Health Services (BCHS), based in Luton and South Bedfordshire.

Phoebe Edwards (left) and Lucy Beaumont are presented with their award by ELFT Chief Operating Officer, Edwin Ndlovu.

“To be nominated by our peers and recognised by the entire Trust is genuinely humbling,” said Phoebe, who is from Dunstable and studied at Queensbury Academy and Luton Sixth Form College.

“Our work as apprentices is incredibly rewarding. Our message would be that apprenticeships offer an amazing opportunity to earn, learn and make a genuine difference.”

Lucy, who is from Bradford in West Yorkshire, said: “I am incredibly proud to have received this award and to see the NHS celebrating the value that apprentices provide for both services and patients.”

She attended Whitcliffe Mount College and completed a previous degree at Leeds Arts University before taking on her NHS post to retrain within healthcare as a podiatrist and Allied Health Practitioner (AHP).

NHS apprenticeships offer routes into more than 350 NHS careers through a mix of on-the-job training and classroom learning. Anyone over the age of 18 can do an apprenticeship with the Trust.

ELFT was highly commended runner-up for Apprenticeship Employer of the Year at the Mayor of London Adult Learning Awards 2022.

ELFT has more than 6,000 staff and 19 coveted Staff Awards were presented to colleagues from across Bedfordshire, Luton and East London at The Troxy in East London.

The ceremony saw awards presented on the night and was also an opportunity to celebrate other achievements by colleagues.

This included a string of external award wins over the last 12 months, the Trust’s pioneering Service User-Led Accreditation programme, the 50 colleagues who passed their apprenticeships over the last year and ELFT becoming the first community and mental health provider to achieve three consecutive ‘outstanding’ ratings by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

"The ELFT Staff Awards 2022 are an opportunity for us to celebrate and recognise your achievements over the last year,” said Chief Executive Paul Calaminus.

“It is an honour to represent you."

Award-winning Luton apprentices encourage others to join the NHS