A healthcare assistant from Ely is one of 36 new recruits who have joined a new NHS training programme which is being led by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT).

The group is aiming to become nursing associates – new roles which will bridge the gape between nursing care support workers and fully qualified registered nurses – and Ely trainee Tom Chatfield is part of that group.

Tom, who has worked at the Phoenix Centre in Fulbourn for 15 years, said: “I am really excited at the prospects and the opportunities offered by the training programme.”

CPFT was one of only 11 Trusts across the country to be chosen by Health Education England to deliver the first wave of training.

On their first day in their new roles the trainee nursing associates attended a welcome event at Anglia Ruskin University, in Cambridge, to find out more about their two-year training schedule.

Kath Gordon, from CPFT’s Learning and development team, said: “The welcome day was a great success. The students are very enthusiastic and committed, and keen to get started. We are delighted to have 36 starting their journey as nursing associates and very pleased that 18 are going to be with us at CPFT.

“Our new students have a range of valuable experience including community, older people’s care, learning disability, ward-based, and mental health backgrounds, so they will be a great asset to our frontline and social care teams.

“CPFT, as the lead organisation, looks forward to working with our partners in developing the role. We want to ensure that everybody working in a healthcare setting understands the purpose of this new role and how it can support registered colleagues and healthcare assistants alike.”