A workplace familiarisation plus placement scheme, set up in 2006 and run by Lancashire teaching hospitals NHS foundation trust, is now offering around 90 students from local colleges placements in hospital roles such as catering, portering, domestic services or support work on a ward.
"We believe this programme to be the only one of its kind in the country," says Stephanie Iaconniani, equality and involvement lead at the trust and a driving force behind the programme which recently won a National Training Award. "People have different skills and abilities, yet people with disabilities are not always given the opportunities they deserve."
Through the eight week programme, students handle splints and oxygen masks, learn resuscitation skills, and try their hand with cleaning, security and catering equipment. Sessions cover health and safety, and equality and diversity, and students involved in the programme have grown in confidence over the course.
A student who took part in the 2006 programme, Scott McNamara, 23, is now a catering assistant at the trust. "I didn't know what I was going to do when I left college," he says. "At first I was nervous and too shy to talk to anyone. I thought just doctors and nurses worked in the hospital. But when they started showing us around catering and portering, I started to enjoy it."
"The course gives students a real insight into the work of all the people who actually make the hospital run," says Chris Fisher, clinical practice educator at the trust. "It also takes a bit of the mystique away, so if either they or a relative comes into hospital they feel more comfortable with the situation."
Over the last few years, students have moved on to paid and voluntary employment, at a local college, a supermarket and as a refuse collector; others volunteer with charities. Some choose to remain at the trust: "I like taking post to the nurses and doctors," says Neil Wilcox, 28 who has worked part-time in the post room since 2007. "It's good learning and seeing different things."
"The opportunities that have been developed make a tremendous difference to young in terms of the skills and employability it gives them," says Stephen Pegg, principal at Cardinal Newman College, "but it also makes a tremendous difference to the employer. They're getting young people who are very committed and very loyal."
The trust is now looking to extend the scheme to other public sector organisations including the county council, police and fire service. "This is a programme that I am very passionate about," says the trust's chief executive Karen Partington. "As a major employer, we want to ensure that our workforce reflects the diversity of the local community and supports people who are often excluded from mainstream employment. The success of the programme makes it an examplar for effective partnership working between the NHS and FE sector."
McNamara agrees. "If I hadn't come on the programme, I probably wouldn't have a job now because of my confidence. Now I do everything that everyone else does, and I enjoy coming to work – I just love it." Guardian
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