Case Study: Francesca Harrison

Francesca Harrison, former Nurse Cadet, now studying  UCLan Westlakes on the BSC Honours Degree Nursing (Adult).

Francesca’s mum, Trudy Harrison, said: “Francesca has wanted to be a nurse for as long as I can remember and when we found out about Nurse Cadets we were just so delighted.  The combination of classroom teaching and placement learning, in our local community college, supporting the hospital workforce just seemed so perfect.  The support she has received has been outstanding.  Often tailored, always timely and at every step encouraging Fran with her ambitions, despite the additional challenges a pandemic has brought her way.  I wish more parents knew about the different routes into health and social care – having to leave home to study at university is a thing of the past.  Students can train to become nurses at home, supporting our local workforce and one day becoming an integral part of our community.  As her parents we can’t praise Nurse Cadets more highly, in helping Fran turn her dreams into real life.” 

Francesca: “When I finished school, I didn’t receive the GCSEs I required for Nurse Cadets at first, so I completed my first year in Health and Social care. After the first year passed, I passed my Maths and English to be able to transfer into the Nurse Cadets course, I remember being so excited as the prospect of being a nurse has been a dream of mine since I was very young.  

“The Nurse Cadet course enabled me not only to get the grades I needed to move into my Nursing degree, it allowed me to grow as a person. I live in a rural village called Bootle, therefore, to get to Lakes College, I had to get the train to Whitehaven then the bus from Whitehaven to Lakes College. However, I enjoyed the course that much, I was always eager to get the train in the mornings.

Nurse Cadets also included placements throughout the course. My placements were at Radiology and A+E and after watching Casualty for many of years, I was so excited to go and see what an emergency department looked like in real life. Also, the placements allowed you to get to know the national health service. The first-hand experience, made me realise that nursing is that I wanted to pursue.

One of the best memories, is Lynsey (course leader) standing at the front of the room dancing to show us what peristalsis is (the relaxation and contraction of the muscles around the body). This memory has stuck with me and had helped me during my nursing degree.

Nurse Cadets also provided me with academic support. In our degree we write at level 4/5/6 writing throughout the years. At college, we were taught how to reference and to find credible references pages which has definitely helped me in my degree.”