Inspiring work experience opportunities for young people at the Royal United Hospitals Bath (RUH) NHS Foundation Trust have been declared as delivering the gold standard. So far this year, nearly 50 young people from local schools and colleges have been hosted at the hospital for a taste of the varied careers on offer, with more opportunities later in 2023. The work experience programme has now been given a gold award under the Work Experience Quality Standard, a national accreditation run by NHS England. The RUH was particularly praised for the excellent induction and welcome it offers, and for the workbook that was devised to encourage students to apply what they learn on work experience to their future career aspirations. Apprenticeship and Career Engagement Lead Hugh McKinney said: “Work experience is an opportunity for the RUH to showcase what we do for young people in our communities, to give them a wider aspect of the healthcare we provide. “The offer is really broad from clinical to non-clinical roles, which helps young people to make that decision about what’s next for them and what their aspirations are. “We’re all proud and privileged to be awarded the gold standard, which showcases the work that goes on behind the scenes to make this happen. This is also an award for our placement supervisors, who welcome students into their teams.” Applications for the next phase of work experience opportunities are open now, until Tuesday 12th September. People in year 12 or 13 at school, or their first or second year of college, can apply. Placement areas include medicine, pharmacy, research and development, IT, and the hospital’s press office. There will be further opportunities advertised in the new year for nursing and other areas. There are more than 350 different NHS careers and work experience gives students a taste of many of these. A short placement can help with decisions about further study. For example, Dominik Kacprzak, aged 18, enjoyed work experience in the Communications department in April 2023. Now, he’s joined the RUH for a 15 month apprenticeship in customer services with the Apprenticeship and Careers Engagement team. Dominik said: “After my work experience, I was inspired to have a look for interesting career options at the RUH. The people were really nice and I found it an interesting place to work. “I decided to work here to make a difference. Knowing that some of the people that may come on work experience will go on to careers in the hospital is really motivating and I’m looking forward to playing my part in that.” In addition to work experience placements, the RUH also offers a wide range of other opportunities to support people into work. These include careers evenings for students to talk to hospital staff, virtual work experience to shine a spotlight on different roles, and the Project SEARCH supported internship programme for young people with a learning disability or autism. The RUH also hosts medical, nursing, midwifery and physiotherapy university students, and offers a large number of apprenticeships. To apply for current work experience opportunities, or for more information about other ways to explore NHS careers, see the RUH website.