Supported by Barts Charity, Healthcare Horizons is a programme that helps young people develop the skills, experience and confidence to pursue careers in healthcare
More than 1,000 young people across East London will be supported to explore careers through Barts Health NHS Trust.
Supported by Barts Charity, Healthcare Horizons is a programme that helps young people develop the skills, experience and confidence to pursue careers in healthcare.
Over the next two and a half years, the latest phase of the programme will continue to widen access to NHS careers for young people from disadvantaged and under-represented communities.
Healthcare Horizons responds to two important challenges: “creating meaningful work experience and employment opportunities for local young people, and supporting the long-term sustainability of the NHS workforce”.
Building on the success of the programme’s first two phases, the third phase aims to engage over 1,000 young people across East London, deliver over 150 work experience placements, and support at least 100 young people through pre-employment training through partnering with 37 local schools and colleges.
Since Healthcare Horizons began in 2019, the programme has engaged more than 4,600 young people through careers events and mentoring, supported 945 students to complete NHS work experience placements, helped 330 young people secure NHS employment through pre-employment pathways, enabled 602 participants to progress into health-related degree programmes and provided almost 3,000 virtual work experience opportunities.
Eliana Yohannes is one of the young people who has been supported into employment through Healthcare Horizons. She is about to start a new role as a senior healthcare assistant at Newham Hospital.
Before Healthcare Horizons, Eliana struggled to find a job for eight months. “I was just emailing, emailing, emailing everywhere – retail jobs like Primark, TK Maxx, Starbucks, everywhere. No one got back to me. It was very hard. Sometimes I felt like: ‘what is happening? What is going on?’ Especially after six months, I was like crying. Sometimes I blamed myself.”
On the Healthcare Horizons programme, Eliana gained clinical experience working at both Newham and Mile End hospitals, which she says she “really enjoyed”.
After being on Healthcare Horizons, Eliana felt that she really learnt a lot. “I know a lot more about Barts and the NHS. If you asked me how I’d welcome someone in a hospital before I joined Healthcare Horizons, I wouldn’t know.
“When you get love and appreciation from patients and they say ‘thank you’ – that really helped me. I really loved that and it really inspired me.”
Fiona Miller Smith, chief executive of Barts Charity, said: “It is wonderful that we have been able to build on our working relationship with Bank of America on the Healthcare Horizons programme. National concern is growing about the opportunities available for young people – as the recent Milburn report showcased. The Healthcare Horizons programme demonstrates how businesses, charities and the NHS can work together to open doors for the next generation and create a more inclusive future workforce.”
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