Hear from our staff

‘’My name is Alex, I am Matron at New Haven, Older Adult Mental Health at the Princess of Wales Community Hospital in Bromsgrove. I’ve worked for the Trust since 2004, which is a total of 17 years now.

I left school at 16 and became an Apprentice Bricklayer, after trying that out I decided on a career change and started working for the NHS aged 18 for Solihull Primary Care Trust as a Residential Support Worker, supporting patients living with profound Learning Disabilities and complex behaviours

I then chose to complete an ‘Access to Nursing’ course alongside working in 2003, which allowed me to be able to go to University and study Mental Health Nursing which I commenced in 2005.

After qualifying in 2008 and I worked as a Staff Nurse in Psychiatric Intensive Care and Mental Health Recovery team. Within a few years I moved into a role as Deputy Ward Manager at New Haven, where I am now based. My career has progressed from there and I became Ward Manager and then Matron (my current role).

Within my current role I thoroughly enjoy working with our team as well as the opportunity to support positive change within the Older Adult Mental Health Pathway.

My advice to anyone thinking of starting a career in healthcare or working towards qualifying as a Nurse would be, be bold and open minded. When I first qualified or even as a student I didn’t expect to work within Older Adult Mental Health but it is where I have found my passion for mental health nursing and I find it truly rewarding and satisfying as a career.

I would describe our Trust as fair and inclusive. I have been given the chance to grow my career with this organisation and am thankful to those I have worked with over the years that have supported my development and given me the opportunities I have had.

I also enjoy the mixture of rural and urban culture we have in the county, we see a wide variety of patients and this helps us develop and further hone our skills as practitioners.’’