Students from across the Liverpool City Region gathered at The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust today (Friday 28 February) to learn about careers in medicine and healthcare.
Over 200 students visited the Sid Watkins Building in the first ‘Workplace Safari’ held at the hospital. Students learned about the skills and qualifications needed to enter into a career in the NHS and also gained an insight into working in a specialist neurosciences trust.
Deputy Director of Workforce and Innovation Jane Mullin said: “It’s been a fantastic day! So many young people have engaged with our staff and taken away useful information about a career in the NHS.
“It’s a great event and I’m delighted that we’ve been able to host it this time. I think many students have gone away inspired and also our own staff have gone away reinvigorated by the excellent work that they’re doing every day.”
The event has been organised by the LCR Careers Hub, which is managed by Growth Platform. It is also funded by the Careers & Enterprise Company as part of the Government’s Careers Strategy, to prepare and inspire young people in the world of work and deliver first class careers support.
Sally Beevers, Careers Hub Lead said: “We are really excited to be working with The Walton Centre and engaging our young people from across Liverpool City Region with real life meaningful employer engagement.
“Workplace visits help to raise careers aspirations and provide students with access to staff who can share their experience and discuss career pathways and working within the NHS.”
Gayle Hall is the Careers Coordinator at Notre Dame Catholic College. She said: “Events like these are fantastic at raising student awareness of the broad range of health careers available to them.
“They’ve been able to have great conversations with health professionals face to face: which is invaluable. They get a real insight into the highs and lows of the job and it allows them to consider studying health and science subjects after GCSE.
“Students say they never realised that skills health professionals gain can lead to fantastic careers, doing a range of jobs. Walton staff have similar backgrounds to the students they’ve seen today, they’re fantastic role models showing them what’s possible.”