Helping local people into work

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Student from our Autism@gstt project

A student on our Autism Project

What we are doing

We support a wide range of projects to help local people into work.

  • Non-clinical work experience opportunities

    More than 500 local people have benefited from a work placement in our hospitals since 2008. Around half were long-term unemployed, many of whom have since got paid jobs at Guy's and St Thomas'. We currently provide around 80 placements each year, although we are continually looking at ways to increase this.

    Candidates spend one-to-two weeks in hands-on work experience roles – typically within an office environment – in order to learn new skills and get a better understanding of how a busy hospital runs.

    Please visit the Discover Healthcare website for details of how to apply, in addition to other related opportunities within King’s Health Partners.

  • Clinical work experience opportunities

    As an internationally recognised teaching hospital with a large and vibrant hospital community, we place great emphasis on developing our future workforce and on attracting the brightest and best-suited to the wide range of careers on offer.

    For young people who are thinking about a career in one of the healthcare professions, clinical work experience in the NHS offers you the chance to see what the job is really like. It may confirm a career choice, or open your eyes to other options that you haven't considered.

    We offer work experience in medicine, midwifery, nursing, pharmacy, and physiotherapy.

    In 2015, over 500 local people have benefitted from such clinical shadowing.

    Please visit the Discover Healthcare website for details of how to apply, in addition to other related opportunities within King’s Health Partners.

  • Supporting people with autism

    Charlie Pettit

    Guy’s and St Thomas’ is the only hospital trust in the UK to offer The Autism Project, a work placement programme that specifically offers support to young people with autism. The project enables them to gain the skills, experience and confidence they need to find work.

    The Autism Project is a joint initiative between The Kings Health Partnership and CareTrade. We are now in our 8th year of running the project.

    Students undertake three 10-week work placements while on the two year programme, alongside studying for employability and Functional Skills qualifications. The programme aims to break down the barriers to employment faced by those with disabilities.

    One of our success stories, Charlie Pettit (pictured) successfully completed the project and was offered a paid position in the Hotel Services Department. He has now been employed by Guy's and St Thomas' for over five years.

    For more information about the Autism Project, contact chinonso.nwannadi@gstt.nhs.uk or visit the CareTrade website.

    See also our video on Enhancing employability in healthcare.

    In addition to this project CareTrade also offers further job support through Access to work and also offer autism awareness training sessions.

  • Offering apprenticeships

    Offering apprenticeships changes lives, and brings business benefits to Guy's and St Thomas'. Our apprenticeship programme has helped staff to further their skills and local people to find a route into employment. Currently, there are almost 60 people in apprenticeships across the trust but there is more we can do.

    We plan to offer another 60 apprenticeships and advanced apprenticeships to local people over the next two years.

    For more information about clinical apprenticeships, contact katie.milner@gstt.nhs.uk.

    For more information about non-clinical apprenticeships, contact wira.gitonga@gstt.nhs.uk.

    Nicola SpencerNicola's story

    Nicola Spencer (pictured) was working in the Trust as a customer care receptionist in the maternity unit but wanted to become a midwife.

    Nicola applied for a maternity support worker apprenticeship, where she studied one day a week over the course of a year. The remaining time was spent working in women’s services. 

    After successfully completing the apprenticeship Nicola acknowledged that while it was challenging at times, she persevered making use of all the available support: "The training has helped my career. I have now got a conditional offer from King's College London to train to become a midwife. The experience I gained clinically and academically have helped me and, I believe, given me a good foundation for September."

Looking for a job?

Take a look at our current vacancies.

Find out more

For more information about our work projects, please email 
chinonso.nwannadi@
gstt.nhs.uk