Gemma Abbott, a staff nurse in the Neurosurgery Unit at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, was a double winner at the Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS apprenticeship awards at the Imperial Banqueting Suite in Preston last month.
The event recognised the outstanding contribution and achievements apprentices from the area have made over the last year.
Gemma was a very worthy winner of the Equality and Diversity award, and then went on to take the Excellence Award – as the overall Champion Apprentice of the year.
Sponsors of the latter award were the University of Central Lancashire, who were won over by Gemma’s story - indeed there wasn't a dry eye in the house!
Gemma comes from a disadvantaged background herself and was the main carer for her mother. She found education challenging but overcame these barriers and became an inspiration to others, volunteering in the Trust to experience working as a nurse during a college course in 2016, before starting her student nurse training in 2017.
She worked on the bank in 2018 and has been on Neurosurgery since April 2020.
Gemma is also a guest speaker and uses her journey through education to connect to people and make them realise their future potential.
Her time spent as a volunteer for the Christian Fellowship showed her true values as a person and wowed the panel of judges for her EDI award, but also the main category as the excellence and overall winner.
Gemma gained the highest grade of distinction on her apprenticeship, received fantastic feedback throughout, and she is a champion for health and safety, using her platform to advocate apprenticeships and life-long learning.
All present could see how Gemma changes perceptions and inspires others, and she was described as “a fantastic ambassador not just for apprenticeships but for the NHS as a whole - a true asset to the NHS.”
Gemma said: “I felt overwhelmed at the time and couldn't really believe that I had won the awards.
“I feel very proud to have won the awards. To win the Excellence award - I felt very honoured as there were so many fantastic people at the awards evening who also deserved it.”
Gemma was not the only success story on the night for the Trust, who were runners-up in the Employer of the year, highly commended behind Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust.
Rebecca Pattman was also highly commended as a runner-up in the Perseverence category, and Tanya Marlow was again highly commended, a runner-up in the Promotion award.
