Mid and South Essex Health & Care Academy

Providing opportunities and a gateway to healthcare careers for young people at Further Education Settings in Mid and South Essex.

In Mid and South Essex, we have a growing demand for skilled healthcare professionals and to meet this need, the Health and Care Academy have linked up with Further Education providers across the region to introduce our unique College Enrichment Programme to students studying healthcare related qualifications.

The College Enrichment Programme provides a comprehensive and specialised initiative for young people who are passionate about pursuing a career in the healthcare industry and equips students with not only the necessary knowledge and technical skills, but also the values and attitudes needed to excel in the healthcare sector.

Through a combination of classroom instruction, hands on practical experiences provided by our industry Ambassadors, and the chance to undertake a real-world placement, students are gaining a deeper understanding of the healthcare system in Mid and South Essex and its various roles, as well as having the opportunity to develop essential skills such as communication, teamwork and critical thinking.

What does the College Enrichment Programme Involve?

In-Person Intervention Sessions

Our Academy College Enrichment Programme is high profile and we attend each college at least once a half term to deliver a workshop session.

These workshop sessions help bust myths about the industry, highlight less well known jobs, provide labour market information about the local region and answer questions that young people have about what a career in healthcare is like.

The in-person sessions also allow the Academy to work on skills gaps that our recruitment teams are highlighting to ensure that young people are in the best possible position when  they complete their course to be able to access an early careers opportunity in healthcare.

Mentoring

Our College Enrichment Programme students have access to the Academy Team, our Ambassadors and specialist support from the Prince’s Trust to support them with their career decisions.

Mentoring from an industry professional can have a profound impact on the course of a young person’s life and the College Enrichment Programme allows those participating the ability to directly contact the team to ask questions, get advice and support for career decisions and access job application and interview assistance.

The feedback from the college staff is that their students are more likely to attend college on a regular basis, have improved exam and assessment results, are improving in confidence and are thriving, knowing that there is a pathway for them into a healthcare career as a result of participation in the College Enrichment Programme.

Our Young Person’s Volunteering Scheme

A crucial element of our College Enrichment Programme is providing access to industry placement opportunities that support the learning needs of our young people.

The College Enrichment Programme is working with young people who have an aspiration to work within healthcare and is actively supporting them to gain placements in a suitable environment.

We currently have young people supporting the work of healthcare professionals in settings including Acute, Primary Care, Social Care and Hospices and we are continually building our placement offer by working with our Integrated Care System partners to identify suitable opportunities across the region.

Early Recruitment Event

The aim of the College Enrichment Programme is to inspire the young people to understand more about how they can build a career in healthcare.

Not all young people are looking to progress onto a University course once they have completed their college programme, and those that don’t are unsure what options they have for alternatives to progress onto.

The Academy work closely with the young people coming to the end of their college programmes to offer a dedicated Recruitment Event for them to attend in the summer term before they finish college.

Working with our Integrated Care System providers, the Academy offer an event where interested young people can come along, hear about each setting and the progression opportunities that these provide, participate in a carousel of workshops to learn more about some available roles and then be interviewed for an available entry role with their preferred provider.

This model not only offers the young person a dedicated pathway into employment and further training but allows our providers access to a new generation of healthcare workers looking to start their career in Mid and South Essex.

The Academy is also able supporting the NHS wider workforce plans this way, as well as helping to grow our own staff from our local communities and for the NHS and Social Care in Mid and South Essex to become an employer of choice.

To find out more about the College Enrichment Programme or to register, see our brochure here: College Enrichment Programme Brochure

The Academy runs an annual Careers Expo event and a STEAM and Creative Technologies Roadshow event both of which showcase the variety of careers available in the NHS and Social Care to young people from schools and colleges across Mid and South Essex.

Our 2023 Careers Expo event saw over 425 students from 31 different educational settings attend and experience the careers of over 30 teams from NHS and Social Care settings from across the Integrated Care System.

Our 2024 STEAM and Creative Technologies Roadshow saw 250 young people attend and connect their classroom learning to STEAM related careers in healthcare by interacting with 20 teams from across the region.

Our Academy Expo events allow young people direct access to industry professionals and the opportunity to get hands on with healthcare equipment. Students can speak to staff in dozens of different health and care roles, learn more about different career routes into the sector, and take part in brilliant interactive activities – from intubation and suturing of a patient through to experiencing a day in the life of a health and care worker using a virtual reality headset.

The Health & Care Academy work with schools and colleges across Mid and South Essex to promote healthcare related careers in the NHS and Social Care to students and have a range of workshops and activities available that align with Gatsby Benchmarks for Good Career Guidance.

If you have a careers related event that you would like the Health & Care Academy to attend, or would like to speak to us about how your school or college can work with us, please email us using:  [email protected]

Providing Supported routes into employment in Mid and South Essex NHS and Social Care Careers.

Finding the right people from our local communities for our workforce creates a sustainable pipeline of talent for the future.

The Health & Care Academy are committed to working with our local communities to break down barriers to employment and to support those seeking work to find roles.

Our Academy Pre-Employment Programmes allow interested parties to gain qualifications, skills, knowledge and confidence as well as offering application and interview support on the pathway into employment.

Our Pre-Employment Programmes are delivered by a dedicated team of professionals who work with applicants from beginning to end and get to know each person, their circumstances and their aspirations to help make their healthcare ambitions a reality.

The Health & Care Academy know that having the right support can make all the difference and we have programmes that improve the journey for those who are new to care.

For more information about our current offers, see our Pre-Employment Brochure.

The East of England Health & Care Academies are teaming up for the 2024/25 academic year to provide a series of virtual sessions aimed at College and Sixth Form students who are studying healthcare related courses.

The virtual programme explores careers in healthcare, masterclasses in skills, routes and pathways in to NHS and Social Care roles including university provision, apprenticeships and direct entry opportunities.

The sessions are led by healthcare professionals on a weekly basis during term time.

To find out more and to register, see our brochure here: Healthcare Careers in Focus Brochure

Providing Young People from underrepresented groups development opportunities to learn about the NHS and Social Care through paid internships.

Our Health & Care Academy Healthcare Internship Placements are available to Care Leavers or Care Experienced young people who are living in Mid and South Essex.

Internships placements offer operational experience, service delivery and partnership working opportunities along with workplace mentoring from healthcare industry professionals.

The internships are hosted by a number of our healthcare organisations working within the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System and there are opportunities in both clinical and non-clinical areas in a wide variety of different NHS settings.  Our settings include: Acute, Primary Care, Hospices and Social Care.

Expressions of interest can be made on our from.

SpringPod, in collaboration with the Health & Care Academy offer a virtual work experience offer for anyone over the age of 13 who is interested in finding out more about healthcare careers.

Our SpringPod offer is available from October 2024 to March 2025 and is an on-demand service where young people can sign up and complete learning modules linked to careers in many professions across Mid and South Essex.

Current modules available include:

• Welcome and Introduction
• An Introduction to Health & Care
• NHS and Social Care Careers linked to Maths
• NHS and Social Care Careers linked to Sports & Psychology
• NHS and Social Care Careers linked to Science & Technology
• NHS and Social Care Careers linked to The Creative Arts
• Employability Skills
• Next Steps Opportunities 

To find out more and to register for this free opportunity visit: Healthcare & Medicine | Springpod

The Health & Care Academy offer a experience events into a range of different career roles for our Mid and South Essex young people attending SEND schools.

Schools can book onto the sessions to explore careers in healthcare in a safe, fun and hands-on way

To find out more, contact the team using: [email protected]

The Health & Care Academy work in collaboration with Medical Mavericks to help inspire the next generation of healthcare workers.

Young people can book on and come along to these events independently of school or college and learn about some of the 350+ roles in the NHS and Social Care.

There are a wide variety of hands-on activities available including: taking blood from a fake arm, recording an ECG, trying out surgery skills in a demo area and seeing veins using a vein scanner!

Medical Mavericks Skills Lab Sessions are offered on a regular basis.

Please check our scheduled events or contact the Academy team using [email protected] to enquire about our next planned sessions.

NHS Cadets is a youth engagement programme for young people aged between 14 and 18 from all backgrounds of our local community.

The Cadets programme is run in collaboration with the Health & Care Academy and St Johns Ambulance and provides the opportunity for young people to learn practical skills for a future role in healthcare whilst exploring the many different career pathways available in the NHS.

We currently have NHS Cadets running in Basildon and if you are interested in finding out more or expressing an interest in joining, please visit: NHS Cadets home | St John Ambulance (sja.org.uk)

Gain the skills and knowledge to pursue a career in nursing with confidence

Supported by HRH Prince of Wales, the Royal College of Nursing Prince of Wales Nursing Cadet Scheme helps young people develop their skills and support them towards a career in nursing.

The scheme runs at selected locations across Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. If you’re aged between 16 and 25 and are passionate about caring for people in need, get in touch with the team today via their website

Royal College of Nursing – Nursing Cadet Scheme