Theme: Our care and services

St Ann’s are celebrating National Apprenticeship Week 2025 by shining a spotlight on two staff members undertaking apprenticeships at the hospice.

National Apprenticeship Week highlights how apprenticeships are an excellent option to consider for young people wishing to start a career, for employees looking to progress in their current role or retrain for a new career, or for employers needing to fill skills gaps to help grow their business.

Megan Willington is undertaking Assistant Practitioner (health), Level: 5 with St Ann’s and is one year in, describing it as such a “positive experience so far”.

Megan works at the hospice in the rehab team four days a week and attends Bolton University once a week as part of a two-year course.

“Having previously graduated in 2022 with a sports therapy degree, I feel it really lacked the hands on, job specific work that sets you up for working with patients in the real world who present with disease and illness,” Megan said.

“I think it’s great to be able to have the opportunity to learn whilst on the job. Alongside my work at the hospice I also have to balance my university assignments and signing off competencies which can be challenging at times but we are given lots of opportunities following lectures to be able to work on assignments and more often than not I can put time aside with my mentor to look at competencies,” Megan said. 

Megan said an interesting thing about her course is being able to hear the experiences of people from all backgrounds working in the different aspects of healthcare. 

“I have had a very positive first year on my apprenticeship and I’m very pleased with the progress I have made. I look forward to my second year in my role and I am excited to continue progressing and developing during my time here,” Megan said. 

Bobby Magee is undertaking Advanced Clinical Practitioner (integrated degree), Level 7, it is a two-year Master’s level apprenticeship in Trainee Advanced Clinical Practice at Manchester Metropolitan University. 

“This combines University learning and practical experience within the Hospice setting allowing me to apply theoretical knowledge to actual patient care,” Bobby said. 

Rehab Team Lead at St Ann’s Hospice, Frances Brown said supporting colleagues such as Megan who is undertaking a training programme is a mutually beneficial experience. 

“We have really welcomed this opportunity in the rehab team, ensuring that we are current in practice and offering the most appropriate and timely support, alongside balancing ongoing clinical requirements of each of our roles,” Fran said. 

“Megan has taken a really proactive approach to her learning and it has been refreshing and interesting to be able to review her development, meet jointly with her university tutor  and have ongoing discussions as to how we can best support her getting the experience she needs at the hospice. The opportunity for team members to take on this supervisory role has also been beneficial within the team; the process has been of mutual benefit for all of us,” she added. 

Head of Clinical Services, Emma Barclay spoke about Bobby’s apprenticeship: “Having the option to create apprenticeships enables the hospice to consider roles where we can ‘grow our own’. In this instance we were able to create an internal opportunity for an experienced clinician to apply for a role that involved the Advanced Clinical Practitioner apprenticeship programme.  

“This poses great advantages for the organisation as it keeps the knowledge and expertise we have and enables the clinician to personally and professionally develop their career at the hospice. Apprenticeships really do enable us to be innovative with the way we develop roles and recruit staff,” she added. 

Ellie Hayes and Sylvia Constable have been remembering their late mum Mabel who was treated at St Ann’s Hospice for seven months before she died.

Due to the care their mother received, Ellie and Sylvia, along with Mabel’s granddaughter Laura Beth continue to support St Ann’s Hospice.

“The nursing and care she received from the hospice was amazing. Our entire family were so grateful for the way she was looked after from the attention, and love she received. Nothing was too much trouble, day or night, they were there for every minute of the day,” Ellie said.

Sylvia said the one thing she wished people knew more about St Ann’s Hospice is the care they also provide to the family of the patient.

“Mum was a character; she could be hard work, and we were worried whether the staff would be able to manage her, and they blew us away. They took to her straight away. They thought she was amazing, you wouldn’t have thought she was a ‘difficult’ patient at all,” Sylvia said. 

Mabel’s family spent “hours and hours” at a time in the hospice with her and according to Ellie, the whole family could “breathe” when they left the hospice as they knew their mum was being well looked after. 

Every year, Mabel’s family attend the St Ann’s Hospice Light Up a Life service in Manchester Cathedral as a way of remembering their mum who was a “brilliant, and loving character”. 

Serving patients Christmas dinner with loved ones, presenting them with presents, and creating a festive atmosphere make working Christmas Day one of the highlights of the year according to Ward Sister Suzanne Vale.  

The day can also be tough, however, when you have a family at home, especially as a single mum. 

As a Ward Sister at St Ann’s Hospice, Suzanne will be working Christmas Day this year. 

“When you work Christmas Day, you feel like you are doing something good. The lead-up to Christmas in the hospice is great. I look forward to the Light up a Life services that the hospice runs in the Manchester Cathedral in memory of loved ones, and it just feels like it’s not a bad thing to work Christmas,” Suzanne said. 

“We also try to get the patient and relative to sit in a different part of the hospice if they are able, to make it more of an occasion rather than them sitting at their bed. We also always make sure the patient has got a present to open from us,” she added.

Although Suzanne enjoys being there for the patients and their relatives in St Ann’s on Christmas Day, it also comes with its own set of challenges.

“The negative side of it is that I am not with my kids. I’m here on the wards for 11 and a half hours. I’ve got a 13-year-old who is quite irritated by the fact that I’m not going to be there. As a single mum, that’s quite hard,” she said.

“So feeling like you are missing out on your time with your family is negative.”

“We also had a particularly challenging time the last Christmas I worked. It can be challenging when a patient passes away,” she added.

According to Suzanne, what helps make working Christmas Day a unique experience is the way the staff support each other on the day.

“We all bring in little presents. We do Secret Santa and exchange them and try and make it a joyous occasion. We bring in food to share, and we cook it up if there is time. We’ll also bring in snacks and party food and try and make it as enjoyable as we can,” Suzanne said.

“You still got to get the work done though but we will try and sit down if we can in between jobs,” she added.

The festive period, on paper, is supposed to be a time of merriment, strolling through Christmas markets, enjoying a hot drink, and reuniting with loved ones. This, however, is not the case for every family in the UK. 

Some families will be spending Christmas in a hospice ward, holding hands with their loved ones as they take their final breaths. 

Gina Hallums is one such individual who spent a large portion of the lead-up to Christmas last year in St Ann’s Hospice in Greater Manchester with her mum, Sue, who would die two weeks before Christmas Day. 

Sue was 66 when she arrived at St Ann’s Hospice and according to Gina, she was a “lively, boisterous, playful” person. 

“She was a natural carer. She was very whacky, you didn’t know what she was going to do next. She was very family-oriented throughout her life she did a lot for her community. She was a care home manager for years and then went on to become an assistant physio at Royal Bolton Hospital, so she was always helping people,” Gina said. 

Gina says her experience of hospice care during the festive period was “mixed” due to constant Christmas reminders. 

“With it being Christmas, it also gave us a bit of focus. Some people might think that being in a hospice around Christmas is the worst thing that could happen. In some ways, it was a blessing because you had something to focus on. You had Christmas cards to write or presents to wrap or Christmas music to listen to or tinsel to decorate the room with. If she had been there in the middle of January or February, there wouldn’t have been that community thing to focus on,” Gina said. 

Even though Gina went through a difficult period with her family, she said there was no shortage of memories that make her smile when she looks back on them. 

“Walking into my mum’s room in the hospice felt peaceful and joyful and while she was there, I organised a couple of surprises for her. I’m in a barbershop quartet, and they turned up to the hospice one day and we sang a few songs for my mum. I also run a few choirs and we organised to do a Christmas concert for her, just for half an hour. Eighty members of the choir showed up, they came from all over to support my mum and I,” Gina said. 

“We also knew she wouldn’t last until Christmas Day, so we organised our own with the incredible help of the staff. Mum was in her bed and we were all putting Christmas music on and dancing, and obviously she couldn’t move much but she tied some tinsel around a bowl and put that on her head as a hat and she was using long bits of tinsel to direct us while we were dancing. That just sums my mum up perfectly, she was absolutely bonkers but always made you smile. That was the last bit of energy she had and gave, and it made everybody smile.” 

According to Gina, one bit of advice she would give to someone experiencing a similar situation to what she did is to “not be afraid to ask questions”.  

“The staff were always happy to answer questions. Obviously to them, everything we experienced was a part of their day-to-day job but to us it was new. It’s all just weird and alien. They were very happy to take the time to talk about what to expect. That bit of extra support was really helpful. 

“The staff always treated me and my mum with respect. Even though you knew why you were there, it didn’t quite feel like that. There was a lot of positivity and there was a lot of emotional support to help you make the most of the time you had left. All of those little moments that were strung together helped to boost me and keep me going so I could support my mum. So, whilst there is incredible medical and clinical work that is being done, it’s all of those extra little touches that really mean the most when you are going through the worst thing that you can imagine. 

“If I could give one other piece of advice for someone going through something similar during the lead-up to Christmas is to just lean into the Christmas spirit. Just because the time you have with that person is limited doesn’t mean that you can’t make the most of it. While Christmas can be a difficult time if you lean into that support that is available, it can bring you all together, it gives you a focus and enables you to have some genuinely, really joyful moments in those last few days and weeks of someone’s life,” Gina added. 

Gina’s mum, Sue passed away at St Ann’s Hospice on December 12, 2023. 

Raymond Morgan was low in mood when he first arrived at St Ann’s Hospice as an inpatient at the Heald Green site.

Through engagement with the rehab team, Raymond was able to improve his motivation on a daily basis.

Raymond said that his engagement with the Rehab Team at Heald Green allowed him to have “something to do, that was to your benefit while being aware that things could change at any time”.

According to the Rehab Team, through his rehabilitation treatment and his hard work, was able to progress from being supported in bed to being able to sit in an armchair which improved his quality of life.

Raymond has now been discharged from St Ann’s Hospice after spending just under a month at Heald Green.

He said he enjoyed working with the whole multidisciplinary team in the ward and spoke about how he enjoyed the mix of personalities in the team.

During his stay at St Ann’s Hospice, Raymond was also visited by Paralympic gold medalist rower, Gregg Stevenson.

The Rehabilitation Team Lead at St Ann’s Hospice, Frances Brown commented.