Teenagers get a taste of hospital career

Youngsters from 14 different schools spent a week at Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals sites as work experience at the end of term last week.

The 15 and 16-year-olds visited different areas of the hospital at work and heard first-hand experiences from staff.

Work experience co-ordinator for the Trust, Gold Mendel-Idowu (corr), said: "The aim of the week was to give the students an eye-opener into all the various careers available in the NHS.

"Some came to realise the vastness of the NHS as an organisation, and how all the different components work together in helping the patients."

"The huge variety of careers available in the National Health Service means that there is probably a job to suit almost everyone.

"For youngsters thinking about a career in either the therapies, nursing, medicine, pharmacy or pathology the kind of week that we offer at the Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust gives them a snap-shot of what life is like in those disciplines, which may help them when the time comes to make a decision about their future studies."

Among the areas the group visited during the week were: A&E, clinical measurements, occupational therapy, the outpatient department, pharmacy, physiotherapy and X-ray.

They also had talks from senior house officers and nurses working in number of different disciplines, a member of the finance team, and the Trust's chief executive Paul Bentley.

Anyone interested in finding out more about work experience at the Trust should contact Gold Mendel-Idowu on 01932 723650 or gold.mendel-idowu@asph.nhs.uk.