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Opportunity for Work Experience in Healthcare Sector
Recruiting for Work Experience Project WATCCH IIWidening Access to Careers in Community Healthcare Once again, the Undergraduate Primary Care Education team in the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College London is running our work experience programme for the second year called WATCCH II – Widening Access to Careers in Community Healthcare II.
There is a shortage of work experience in the health sector for pupils, particularly for those who have no connection to healthcare professionals. WATCCH II aims to open up work experience opportunities in the healthcare sector by offering placements for sixth form pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to shadow various allied healthcare professionals in general practices.
It was a tremendous success last year and the pupils thoroughly enjoyed the project. They gained valuable knowledge and insight into their own personal skills, understanding the complex patient clinical relationship and understanding the variety of healthcare roles on offer in the NHS. The experience greatly helped formulate career choices they wished to enter and plan the process of achieving their future careers. Their reflections are shown below:
40 Pupils will be invited to attend a pre-placement induction at Imperial College’s Charing Cross Hospital Campus, this summer and will then have a 3-day work experience session at a general practice where they will observe a variety of allied healthcare professionals in the community, e.g. health visitors, phlebotomists, pharmacists, nurses, and physiotherapists.
If you are in Year 12, have completed your GCSEs with good grades, do not have placements elsewhere, and are the first in their family applying to university then do consider applying to WATCCH II. This is an exciting opportunity for you to experience community healthcare in General Practice which can help you in making a career decision. The insight into wider healthcare careers and how primary care works will allow you to gain valuable experience which is essential to your higher education application form. If you are interested in participating in WATCCH II project, find out more by emailing watcch@imperial.ac.uk for an application form.
