Supported Internships ARE a route to recruitment

It’s been a difficult year for supported internships, nationwide many employers have struggled to take interns due to the pandemic. Not so though at the Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) who for most of the last academic year still welcomed our interns and staff on to site. 

Even more important therefore to celebrate success stories. We are delighted that two students, Lily and Josh, who recently finished our Route to Recruit Supported Internship at RBH have succeeded in gaining paid employment with the teams where they carried out their job placements.

After impressing staff during her internship, Lily, who has a learning disability, started her part time job in April as a Non Clinical Ward Support Assistant in the Cardiac Care Unit. As a very caring, genuine and helpful individual, Lily is a perfect fit for her role, helping the nurses with non-clinical tasks – including admin, collecting patient meds, supporting with lunches and housekeeping.  Not only does Lily do a great job in her role, but her hard work and determination frees up nurses’ time to carry out clinical tasks and tend to patient welfare.  From the way Lily conducts her job, you can tell that she is so proud to be an ‘essential worker’ and part of the Cardiac team, especially as she herself has a heart condition and is now working with the team that have medically supported her since it was diagnosed - she feels super safe in the workplace!

Josh, who has Autism, is also an individual who is making his mark at RBH. Josh started his internship working in the League of Friends Café but soon wanted to interact more with patients so then moved to a patient facing role in the Minor Injuries Clinic, where he has now secured employment as a part-time Non Clinical Ward Support Assistant. Like Lily, Josh is a vital member of the team - restocking supplies, cleaning, running errands and getting drinks for patients. As well as his new paid job, Josh volunteers in his spare time back at the café in his efforts to lend a hand, make a difference and build friendships.

These Ward Support roles have been job carved by our Route to Recruit team based at RBH. These types of roles cater to our student’s skillset and strengths, but importantly allow clinical staff to do more of the specialised tasks that they trained for – so ultimately job carving has benefitted everyone, patients included. 

Lily and Josh have come so far since starting on the Supported Internship. Both gaining confidence and maturity due to the invaluable support of the teams they were embedded in at RBH and our Ways into Work Job Coaches. 

Congratulations Lily and Josh on your new roles, they are well deserved and thank you to all the staff at RBH who make Changing Lives One Job at a Time possible.

To find out more about our Supported Internship programme Route to Recruit, click here.