More Prince's Trust trainees welcomed

ECCH has welcomed a second group of trainees from The Prince’s Trust who are keen to follow careers in the health sector.

ECCH is working in partnership with The Prince’s Trust and James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to offer a six week long training programme to 14 unemployed young people aged between 16 and 25 from Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

The ‘Get Into Healthcare’ programme includes a fortnight of classroom sessions covering employability skills including mock interviews, care certificate modules, behavioural change and mindfulness. Delegates are also taking up a series of three day clinical placements with different ECCH teams. These include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, Out Of Hospital Teams, in patient, health visiting and community nursing. Non-clinical placements were provided by the James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The aim is for those taking part to obtain a Care Certificate by the end of the course. This is a qualification that all NHS health and social care support workers require to prove they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to provide safe, compassionate care.

Last year ECCH welcomed its first group of trainees, all of whom obtained their certificate and many of whom have since gone on to successfully obtain jobs. This year The Prince’s Trust students will also be able to apply for apprenticeships and temporary (bank) positions at ECCH.

ECCH course co-ordinator Nicole Hobson said: “We had such a great response from the trainees who joined us last year, so we were very keen to run another programme. We have developed it to allow the trainees to experience a variety of clinical and non-clinical roles within ECCH and the James Paget to raise their awareness of the diversity of roles and to raise their aspirations for working in the healthcare sector. Just like last year, they’re so enthusiastic and they really want to get a foot in the door so this is very exciting for them - and for us. We’ve tried to tailor the placements to what they’re interested in and we hope it will start them on the path to a rewarding career.”

Three in four young people on The Prince’s Trust programmes move into work, training or education. The Prince’s Trust helped more than 58,000 disadvantaged young people last year.