17 August 2017
Meet Laura Sheldon: spokesperson for young people in hospitals, advocate of mental health awareness and the newest face of Shropshire’s two acute hospitals.
The 19-year-old Salopian, who has already clocked up several years’ volunteering in the NHS and a three-year stint on the Youth Parliament, is adding an administration apprenticeship to her collection of achievements.
Laura will provide a front of house service to The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust’s (SaTH) Headquarters in Stretton House, and as the first apprentice to be employed by the Trust under the new government Apprentice Strategy she will remain in post for 12 months.
Laura says she already knows she is “in the right place to be part of something that really makes a difference.”
She added: “I am very excited to get stuck in to my apprenticeship and work somewhere I have admired for so many years.”
Prior to her appointment at SaTH, which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital, Laura championed young people’s rights in a number of voluntary roles: at William Farr House she worked for several years to engage young people in decision making and giving young people a voice in the NHS, and as a Young Health Champion she delivered workshops and trained dozens of young people, passing on the skills needed to allow teenagers to make a difference in their communities.
Laura has also delivered a presentation at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine to a number of paediatric nurses about the importance of consultation around patient experience in children’s wards, and spoken in the House of Commons as a Member of Youth Parliament on the importance of talking about mental health issues.
She sat on the 2015 Youth Select Committee and took evidence from witnesses such as MPs and health professionals around the issue of mental health services, awareness and stigma.
Unwilling to sit back and relax, Laura hopes to study Business Management during the evening after completing her apprenticeship in order to progress on her NHS journey.
In her spare time, Laura composes music on the guitar and ukulele and occasionally performs and busks in Shrewsbury. She also enjoys cooking and learning about history and philosophy.