Image (L-R): Christine McGuinness, Jenny Pope and Sandi Bern at the Scottish Veterans Awards picking up the Employer of the Year award
NHS Golden Jubilee’s commitment to the armed forces has been recognised again after winning Employer of the Year at the Scottish Veterans Awards 2024.
The annual awards recognise Veterans who are doing great things in their communities and organisations who do everything they can to support the Armed Forces.
Nurse Sandi Bern, who was the Royal Navy's Top Reserve Recruit of the Year for 2023, was also shortlisted in the awards for Reservist of the Year.
NHS Golden Jubilee provides a range of support and policies for members of the armed forces family, including work life balance policies which provide increased flexibility and leave.
By regularly engaging directly with the armed forces, Erskine Care and Board Military Champions, they aim to raise awareness of the health and care career opportunities available to veterans and their families.
The Golden Jubilee also proactively explore several areas of work in line with the Scottish Government framework for ‘Increasing service leaver and veteran recruitment into health and care in Scotland’.
Built on the site of the former Beardmore Shipyards, NHS Golden Jubilee has strong historic links to the armed forces. To this day, the site is home to the permanent memorial for those who lost their lives on the HMT Lancastria, which was built on this site and tragically bombed off the coast of St. Nazaire in France in during World War Two.
NHS Golden Jubilee Chief Executive Gordon James, said: “We are honoured to be named Employer of the Year at the Scottish Veterans Awards and were delighted to accept the award on behalf of past, present and colleagues from across the armed forces family.
“Our armed forces colleagues and their families have made the biggest sacrifices as part of their commitment to serve our country, and since we first opened our doors in 2002 we have been proud to do everything we can to support veterans, reservists and their families.
“We have always recognised the value of the transferable skills which these individuals bring to our workforce, and the direct benefit this has for patients from all across Scotland.
“As we continue to move forward in our wider partnership with the armed forces, we continue sharing and learning new ways of working, which will result in transferable, innovative training and leading-edge solutions to improve services for Scotland’s patients.”
First recognised as a Supportive Employer of the Armed Forces Reserves in 2013, NHS Golden Jubilee signed the Armed Forces Covenant with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in 2016.
In 2017 they were the first NHS Scotland Board to receive the Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Gold Award and were revalidated in 2022 during the Board’s 20th anniversary year.
They were named Silver Employer of the Year in the 2023 Scottish Veterans Awards.
