Sporting star Fatima Whitbread MBE shares personal experiences at Children’s Hospital event
Earlier this week, our Children’s Hospital proudly welcomed partners, young people and Olympic medalist, Fatima Whitbread, for an NHS Universal Family Career Development workshop.
The NHS Universal Family Programme is part of our pledge to provide care leavers with access to employment, education and training opportunities within the NHS and our communities.
Birmingham Women’s and Children’s (BWC) leads the programme on behalf of the NHS in Birmingham and Solihull and it has been rolled out across all 42 integrated care systems in the NHS over the past year.
The event earlier welcomed representatives from St Basils, John Sisk Construction and BWC and offered information about the opportunities on offer, recruitment processes and the story of a young person who has benefited from the project.
James Stokes, Wellbeing Administrator, was one of the first ever care leavers to take part in the programme and is now in full-time employment at BWC.
Speaking at a recent roundtable event, James said: James said: “My role within the Trust includes supporting new starters and finding resources to help staff.
“The pilot scheme has been successful. I am really proud to be a care leaver within BWC and the NHS who have taken a chance with me.
“I hope this changes the lives of many more young care leavers in the future. I am looking forward to continuing to progress in my role and being an ambassador for the Universal Family Programme.”
The event featured an inspirational talk from Fatima Whitbread MBE, Former Javelin World Athletic Champion, who spoke about her own personal experience growing up in care, as well as her ongoing commitment and work to improve the lives of care leavers.
The Olympian, who won bronze in 1984 and silver in 1988, spoke out about the need for more support for young people leaving care and her Fatima’s UK Campaign, which aims to bring attention to care leavers and calls for national change. Fatima is using her Olympic and ‘I’m a Celebrity’ platform to bring people together to make positive change happen.
Fatima said: “It was wonderful to come into the Children’s Hospital to talk to some of the care leavers about Fatima’s UK Campaign.
“The campaign is bringing about a summit in April 2025 in London, which is all about bringing about collaboration and partnership to help improve the life outcomes of young people and care leavers.”
Raffaela Goodby, BWC’s Chief People Officer, said: “We’re proud to lead the Universal Family Programme in Birmingham and Solihull and we’re delighted to welcome so many partners to our hospital today.
“Listening to Fatima’s story was inspirational and we are so grateful she took the time to come to share her powerful personal experience and healing.
“As a Trust and ICB partnership, we share the same passion for offering opportunities for care experienced young people. In Birmingham alone more than 2,000 young people leave the care system each year.”
Lawrence Kelly, BWC’s People Partnerships & Programmes Manager and Universal Family Programme lead said: “This event is a series of workshops we deliver in our Trust to connect with young care experienced people in our communities.
“Our support of Fatima Whitbread’s campaign sends out a strong message of commitment to talent spotting brilliant people with lived experience and nurturing our next generation of health professionals.
“The programme keeps young care leavers at its very centre , through skill development and employment whilst enriching our diverse workforce and delivering positive journeys for all.
“Nav Sharma and Femi Kuforiji from our Widening Participation Team have developed a programme we can be truly proud of, their creative approach and that of our partnership network is inspiring and the results speak for themselves.”
Find out more about the national Care Leaver Covenant online at: https://mycovenant.org.uk