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Volunteering and Work Experience

This is the place to jump start your career!

Our Employability and Widening Participation programmes help to inspire people from our local communities.

We know that for many, a small taste of what it is like to work in a clinical and non-clinical setting is enough to raise their aspirations and fuel a desire to work in the NHS.

We are working with a variety of partners including education, statutory, charitable and third sector organisations offering a variety of different pre-apprenticeship and progression opportunities including:

  • Care Club Volunteering
  • Work Experience
  • St John’s NHS Cadet schemes
  • T Level Cadet (September 2022/ 2023 / 2024)
  • Sector Work Based Academy
  • Project Search
  • The Princes Trust
  • Careers Events
  • CHFT Speaker Workshops
  • CHFT Workshops that support TRAC applications, Interviews, Mentoring and Progressio

To date, we have supported more than 95 individuals secure paid employment through our Widening Participation pathways.

Click on the image below to access lots of information on widening your career here at CHFT. 

Get in touch to find out more employability@cht.nhs.uk

Care Club Ward Helper Volunteering

Image of one of our Care Club volunteers Sussanah

Our Care Club is the place where you can help patients, visitors, and our staff.

Our Care Club Volunteering project seeks to recruit volunteers from a variety of different backgrounds to support various roles, including:

  • Ward volunteers
  • Meet and greet volunteers
  • PAT volunteers (Pets As Therapy)

Being a care club ward helper volunteer can help you to learn new skills and gain valuable work experience in a health care setting. Volunteering allows you to challenge yourself, try something different and discover hidden talents.

It can help reduce new staff, patients and visitors’ anxieties when coming into our hospitals. Simple things like supporting with directions and checking-in for appointments are the first impressions of CHFT. So these volunteers need to demonstrate our values and behaviours.

To be a Care Club PAT Volunteer, you must be registered with the organisation Pets as Therapy or Guide Dogs and provide evidence of documentation of veterinary vaccinations and upkeep, as well as insurance and registration to an awarding training provider (PAT / Guide Dogs). These volunteers and their pooches bring so much joy to our patients and staff, really boosting moral, engagement and supporting recovery.

We are seeking compassionate people who share our ethos of One Culture of Care, which is to care for each other in the same way as we do our patients. If you want to get involved you need to:

  • Be helpful, friendly, and have a courteous attitude
  • Show tact and sensitivity, polite and approachable
  • Have good communication skills
  • Be able to demonstrate empathy and compassion
  • Have a calm manner
  • Be adaptable and willing to learn.
  • Have a willingness to help and support patient and staff
  • Be punctual and reliable

If this sounds like a challenge that you could rise to, you’re aged over 17 and can spare a minimum of three hours a week for at least six months, then we would love to hear from you. Contact employabilty@cht.nhs.uk 

Come and join the Team – we look forward to meeting you.

Work Experience

An image of a young male shadowing on of our staff members

Work experience placements are coordinated directly with schools, colleges and Industry Placement Officers. We ask schools and colleges to get in touch directly with us, as placements are limited. We're sorry, we can't take individual applications from students.

This is the place where young people can explore what it’s like to work in the NHS.

If you are at school or college, aged 14 or over and are considering a career in healthcare, please contact your school, college or industry placement officer. They’ll contact us so we can support a one-week work experience placement.

You’ll be able to gain a real sense of what it’s like to work in a clinical setting such as nursing, health care science or as a Allied Health Professional. We also offer support for non-clinical roles in admin, finance, digital or estates and facilities. 

You will have the chance to decide whether it’s the right career path for you.

Our work experience placements are in very high demand. So, if you are interested in joining us, please get your application in early to avoid disappointment. Please note that priority is given to those who live or are being educated within our CHFT postcode areas.

Contact us

If you represent a school or college please email employability@cht.nhs.uk