Work Experience at East Surrey Hospital

2.pngWork experience application process opening Monday 20 January 2025!

There are over 350 roles within the NHS, whatever your skills, qualifications or interests, there is a career waiting for you.

At East Surrey Hospital we offer a range of opportunities including work experience and career events if you are considering a career within the NHS.

Work Experience Placements 2025

The application process for 2025 placements shall open on Monday 20 January 2025 at 9am.

To access the application form please click on the following link, please note this will not be available until Monday 20 January at 9am: https://forms.office.com/e/ts6N02KVVS

If you require a paper version of the application form please email sash.work experience@nhs.net who will organise this to be emailed to you at the above date and time.

Please see below details of work experience at Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and the 2025 departmental offer.

Due to anticipated demand we will be closing the application window on 2nd February 2025. We encourage all interested individuals to submit their applications before the deadline to ensure consideration. Please be aware work experience is popular and always oversubscribed and we cannot therefore guarantee a placement.

Upon completing your application, you will receive a submission message through Microsoft forms, please take this as receipt of your application. This shall then be reviewed by the Learning & Organisation Development Department and you will be contacted with the outcome of your application.

Please note that you may not hear the outcome of your application until 4-6 weeks after you submitted your response. In the meantime, please do not contact the office in regards to your application status as the information provided will not differ from the information on this webpage.

If there are any changes to your application whether this be a change of dates or you no longer wish to partake in work experience please do notify us via email to sash.workexperience@nhs.net.

We recognise the value of work experience for gaining insight into NHS careers and we look forward to receiving your application.

Departments offering work experience

Please check back on this webpage to discover the departments offering work experience placements in 2025.

We offer students the chance to shadow staff in a wide variety of job roles and areas, both clinical and non-clinical. The departments who offer work experience vary per year due to organisational reasons.

Placement departments are subject to change and in some circumstances, we may be able to accommodate areas not listed below. If you have a particular field of interest please put this in your application.

Work Experience at East Surrey Hospital

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare have been one of the only organisations to reopen for work experience placements since the pandemic, we were delighted to be able to offer 150 students a work experience placement across clinical, administrative and technical areas in 2024.

Placement Process

Work experience provides an opportunity to gain insight through observation into the many roles available within the NHS. At East Surrey Hospital we offer 2-5 day work experience placements from April-October each year.

The departments who offer work experience vary per year but can include medicine, nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy, administration, estates & facilities and radiography. The duration of the work experience placements offered through our service are normally structured around a one-week experience. Other departments feel it is sufficient to offer 2 days only. The placement duration is predetermined by the departments and is non-negotiable.

Please note when filling in your requested dates that work experience placements will take place between April and October inclusive.

Work experience placements are based at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill and placements are unpaid. The Trust will not meet any costs of travel, subsistence, parking or accommodation. Due to the demand for work experience we are not always able to accommodate all requests and cannot therefore guarantee a placement.

Restricted areas

Work experience will not be offered in the following areas nor should you visit any of these areas if undertaking work experience in another department:

· Maternity

· G.U medicine

· Theatres

· Mortuary

· Paediatrics

Eligibility

Students must be a minimum of 16 years of age; however, there is no upper age limit and we are happy to provide opportunities to those considering a change in career. The trust has put in place the following age restrictions to ensure applicants are able to cope with the physical and emotional elements of the placement.

To support the promotion of careers in health and care, Health Education England (HEE) have funded an online work-related learning programme.  The programmes are free to students!  

 

Springpod are the host organisation and shall manage all applications.

The programmes will provide an overview of what careers in healthcare can offer, as well as develop key skills for the profession. There’s also the opportunity to hear from NHS professionals, learn about their day to day work and complete assignments.

 

Upon completion, participants are awarded a certificate, which can be useful for CVs, Personal Statements and interviews.

 

You will see there are two versions of each programme, one is for those aged 14-25 and the other is for over 25’s, please select the appropriate link for your age group:

 

Nursing

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Medicine

 

Allied health professional

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Medical Schools Council advice on work experience

Follow this link for guidance on work experience from the Medical Schools Council: Work experience | Medical Schools Council (medschools.ac.uk)

 

StudyingHealthcare.ac.uk

Studying Healthcare is a partnership between the Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Schools Councils to provide up-to-date and accurate information about the university application process for healthcare subjects. The site provides information on how to apply for a degree in medicine, dentistry or pharmacy. The website has a particular focus on widening access by ensuring that students from all backgrounds are supported to make an informed choice to study healthcare at university. It also provides an outreach hub which enables students, parents and school staff to access events and resources delivered and developed by university health faculties across the UK. This website has been generously funded by Health Education England.

Click here to visit the Studying Healthcare website: Home - studying healthcare

The following websites are an amazing resource with many areas to explore such as a 'find your health career' quiz, roles in the NHS, career planning and working for the NHS:

Case studies from healthcare professionals