Widening access to training and work
Building healthier communities
Access to good quality, secure work can improve people’s health and wellbeing. Many people benefit from support that helps them take steps towards employment through training, work experience, or a fair chance at a new role.
People who are unemployed are more than five times as likely to experience poor health compared to those in work. Areas with higher employment tend to have better average healthy life expectancy.
In Lambeth and Southwark, around 21% of people aged 16 to 64 are economically inactive. That's why we're committed to helping more local people find purpose, improve their mental health and live well.
Our commitment to quality training and work
We’re working to make training and employment more accessible for people in our local communities.
- We host the Good Work South East London hub, supporting local people to find and secure rewarding roles in healthcare.
- We have more than 540 apprentices and aim to offer up to 350 new apprenticeships every year.
- We offer protected work experience places for schools in Lambeth and Southwark, giving local young people a valuable first step.
- We're expanding our fair recruitment practices, ensuring equal access to training and employment through initiatives like The Autism Project and the Armed Forces Programme.
Inspiring future leaders
Breanna Davis, aged 16, took part in Aspire 350, a project that works with students in years 10 and 11 to offer development opportunities and routes into NHS careers. An aspiring architect, she said:
“The programme was quite life changing as it gives you an experience of how hospitals work, and makes you want to think of them as a career path. I can now look at hospital architecture as a career path too.”
Hayley Robinson-Allen, schools widening participation manager and project lead at Guy’s and St Thomas’, said:
“We want to help young people in our local community pursue the careers they want, but perhaps in the careers they didn’t know existed within the NHS. At the Trust we are a ‘little city’, any job you can think of is here: nursery staff, engineers, chefs, and we need staff to fulfil all these roles.”
