The new campaign, which aims to promote the wide variety of career opportunities in health and social care, is bringing together the region’s leading health and social care employers and educators, including local authorities, to highlight significant opportunities to become one of the caring professionals of tomorrow.
Project lead Anna McLaren, widening participation ambassador at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The partners who have come together to create the Discover Care project are all invested in the long-term success of our much-needed health and social care employees of the future.
“Discover Care aims to demonstrate the wide variety of rewarding career opportunities available in the sector, at a time when research has shown that people do not see a career for themselves in health and social care, despite the continuous high demand for more employees in care.
“Young people aged under 25 in particular are not considering health and social care as a place where a rewarding career can be developed, which is, of course, concerning, but we’re hoping we can turn this around.
“Through Discover Care, we aim to bring more awareness to the wide variety of roles available at many different levels and encourage more people into training for a fulfilling career or into voluntary positions that can lead to paid employment,” she said.
“We know if more people of all ages and aspirations could discover what’s available, it would open their minds to a career choice they had possibly not even considered.”
Andrea Harrison, head of department for health, education and creative at Stockton Riverside College, believes this is a great opportunity to increase participation in health and social care courses at the college.
She said: “There are so many job roles from clinical roles, administration and education initiatives that often people do not realise are part of the NHS and social care workforce. Discover care aims to bring information together in a one-stop-shop to help inform more people of these opportunities.
“Education is a key stepping stone into a new career and Stockton Riverside College supports this new initiative and is offering a wide range of courses including full-time, part-time, access to higher education and higher education courses.”
If you are an adult looking to kickstart your career in the health and social care sector, make sure you come along to our Adult Education Open Event on Thursday 14th December from 5pm-7pm. You will be able to take a look around our facilities, speak to tutors and even apply on the night!
Sign up to our event here: https://tinyurl.com/2p8y2c57
