Since October 2014, Hull Hospitals’ Young Health Champions programme has been offering 16 to 25-year-olds the opportunity to volunteer in hospitals and gain invaluable hands-on experience in clinical settings.
In that time, more than 2,700 young people have signed up, and gone on to enjoy careers as nurses, doctors, physiologists, emergency care workers and more.
Ten years on, NHS Humber Health Partnership is celebrating by rebranding the programme as ‘Humber Health Champions’ and extending its reach to offer the same invaluable career opportunities to young people across the whole of the Humber region.
Rachel Hardcastle-Pearce, Group Head of Voluntary Services for NHS Humber Health Partnership says:
“The Young Health Champions Scheme has gone from strength to strength over the past ten years, giving young people who are looking for a career in health the kind of insights and experience you just wouldn’t get in a classroom.
“As this week is National Careers Week, we wanted to use this opportunity to roll the programme our further, under the name of Humber Health Champions, and offer young people the chance to gain knowledge and skills in a hospital setting, not just in Hull but across the entire region.
“Young people come to us for many reasons; sometimes they have a clear career path in mind and want experience in a certain area or type of care such as cancer or paediatrics, while others maybe know they want some type of caring role but don’t know exactly what. Volunteering as a Health Champion really serves as a passport around the NHS, enabling young people to learn more about different health roles and work in different areas to see which interests them most.
“This may surprise some people, but almost half of all volunteers now working across our hospitals in Hull, Cottingham, Grimsby, Goole and Scunthorpe are young people; that’s 289 out of 642; which shows just how popular the scheme has become.
“The Humber Health Champions programme is all about inspiring the next generation of healthcare professionals and shoring up hospital services for the future by growing our own staff locally. As a result of our work, we’ve helped almost 3,000 young people boost their CVs, learn new skills, and of course, support our existing hospital staff to deliver great care to our patients too.”
One former Young Health Champion who has gone on to secure a full-time role as a staff nurse in Hull Royal Infirmary’s Emergency Department is 22-year-old Holly Giles.
Holly says: “I started volunteering at the age of 17 to gain experience in a hospital setting.
“When I first started, I initially wanted to go into paediatric nursing. I worked on Ward 130, then on the Acute Medical Unit and the Emergency Department, helping to stock and tidy the areas, shadowing the nurses, and learning about the different roles within wards and departments.
“Being a Young Health Champion helped me find where I wanted to be and the role I wanted to do when I got to university. Having that chance to help on the wards helped me to understand the areas that I would be working in and to develop my communication skills.
“I looked into becoming a paramedic, but based on my experiences as a volunteer, I eventually decided that adult nursing was for me.
“Having the opportunity to work in different environments and departments allowed me to work out which areas interested me the most and, thanks to the young volunteers scheme, I have now reached my dream goal.”
If you or someone you know would be interested in becoming a Humber Health Champion, please contact the Voluntary Service Team on 07443 187097 or email hyp-tr.huth.volunteers@nhs.net
