Work placements for healthcare students
From 1996 to 2009 the City Fringe Partnership delivered major initiatives to improve the prospects of residents and support London's small businesses.
Download CFP research on the area and key employment sectors, as well as sector investment plans and evaluation reports of its programmes.
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Work placements for newly-qualified healthcare assistants
Health and Social Care is a major provider of jobs in the City Fringe, employing some 60,000 people across the four boroughs. As healthcare services continued to grow in the area the CFP's primary aim was to encourage more residents to gain the skills that local employers need.
The CFP's sector investment plan for healthcare brought together major local hospitals, GP surgeries and nursing homes to support training and access to jobs for the local communities within the City Fringe. Work placements for students, training for social care workers and employment support for residents were just some of the activities the CFP initiated through six projects over the same period, helping over 2,500 City Fringe residents.
Over the same period approximately 250 City Fringe residents gained entry-level jobs at Barts & The London NHS Trust, covering healthcare support workers, porters, domestics and laboratory assistants. At Hac Shac work placements were offered to local jobseekers at health and social care providers, like Homerton Hospital, to give them specific pre-employment skills training and help them prepare for new jobs. At University College London Hospitals and other NHS Trusts in the area, job training was offered alongside job brokerage services, primarily across Camden and Islington.
The CFP's Mental Health Employment Project offered employment and training advice at a number of GP surgeries and Health Centres across the City Fringe. It was targeted at people out of work due to health problems, such as those claiming incapacity benefit who had been referred by their GP.
In the social care sub-sector the CFP provided training for staff in Tower Hamlets who were at risk of not achieving new qualification requirements in time for Government-imposed deadlines, preventing job losses in the area. The Care Ambassadors project involved the sector skills council for the industry to train staff from local residential care homes as ambassadors to promote careers in the sector to school and college students. It also formed a development phase of the Government's new 14-19 vocational diploma.
By promoting healthcare as a career of choice for young people the CFP helped shape the workforce to become more reflective of its local patients and service users. One of the ways it did this was through the HASPEL project.
On-the-job training for healthcare students
The CFP's support for the Health and Science Pathways East London (HASPEL) project aimed to provide relevant and rewarding work experience to encourage entry into work or further study in healthcare.
Placements on the HASPEL programme varied from a minimum of two weeks up to three months. Preparation included supporting students to learn how to fill in an application form, as well as training in interview techniques. Students were then offered a place on the scheme and given an induction, either in a hospital setting or within the community.
Nirma Khanom enjoyed her two week placement within the Outpatients department at St Barts Hospital and went on to work on the Vascular Surgical ward at the Royal London Hospital. "I felt comfortable with the interview because I had already done many of the job duties on placement, so I had a clear picture in my mind of what to talk about."
The students had the opportunity to take part in mock job applications and interviews and were given feedback on their performance. Students reported that they had increased their range of skills as a result of undertaking NHS placements. Sophie Nanano's first year placement enabled her to secure work in a residential care home: "I knew what to do in my paid work because I'd already been trained for my work placement."
The young people reported how the work experience in the NHS had enabled them to make career choices that they did not know were available to them. Anita Blessen Atikpoe-Kponu was accepted onto a nursing degree programme at Southbank University and planned to become a mental health nurse. "My placement experience, particularly sitting in on a specialist's consultation with patients, confirmed me wanting to go on to further study in Nursing."
