Published on: 4 August 2023

Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust launched a new school leavers programme this week to provide an insight into the different roles within the Trust and the wider NHS, to encourage students to consider the NHS as a future career.school leavers.jpg 

Six students, aged 16, from three inner city Deby secondary schools participated in a week-long placement across the Trust, meeting a wide range of colleagues who work in different roles and teams.

Visits included meeting psychologists, psychiatrists, analysts, managing directors, HR professionals, nurses and administrative leads.

One of the day’s activities involved taking the students for a tour of Kingsway Hospital with Sabia Hussain, Deputy Managing Director.

Sabia said: “It was great to walk the students around our site and talk them through the vast range of services we provide our patients.

“The students were also able to see the work taking place to create new mental health services on the site, which will provide many new jobs for local people. They were fascinated and eager to learn about the number of different roles and professions we have within the NHS and the wide variety of services we provide to our patients across Derbyshire.

“Our hope with this placement is to help inspire young people to aspire for careers working in mental health, children’s services or our wider related areas of work and choose the NHS as their employer in the future.”

The programme has received fantastic feedback so far. One student leaver said: “I have really enjoyed the programme and have learnt so much over the last few days that I never knew about the NHS. It has made me want to consider a career as a nurse.”

We work in partnership with Joined Up Careers Derbyshire to offer a variety of development opportunities. For more information about gaining work experience in Derbyshire, please visit the Joined Up Careers Derbyshire website or email us at dchst.workexperience@nhs.net​​​​​.