Apprenticeships and sustainability up for awards

A successful apprenticeship programme and a drive to make Guy’s and St Thomas’ more environmentally responsible are shortlisted for the Health Business Awards.

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on 3 December hosted by Dr Mark Porter, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s medical series In Touch and Case Notes.

The Gateway Academy Business Administration Apprenticeship programme is shortlisted in the Healthcare Recruitment category in recognition of the fact that getting young people into work can change lives.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ has worked with Hawk Training and the National Skills Academy for Health to enrol 41 young people onto the programme since March 2014.

Its success is demonstrated by the evidence that six out of the nine apprentices in the first cohort went on to a full-time job, two more have an extended date to complete their apprenticeship, and the remaining apprentice is back in education.

The apprenticeship programme aims to be as inclusive as possible by supporting young people with autism, mobility needs and deafness.

A wide range of initiatives to be environmentally responsible are also shortlisted in the Sustainable Hospital and Environmental Practice categories.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ partnership with Bywaters for a total waste management service, collecting and disposing of all waste produced from its hospitals and community sites, has had an immediate impact. Guy’s and St Thomas’ recycling rate increased from 38% in 2013/14 to 43% in 2014/15.

All non-recyclable waste is sent by barge down the Thames to a facility at Belvedere taking the equivalent of 40 vehicles off the road every week.

Another environmentally friendly initiative involves supplying 400 litres of used cooking oil every month from Guy’s and St Thomas’ catering services to Uptown Oil, a local company which blends it to make biofuel to power black cabs and buildings.