Widening Participation in Health and Care Project Award Winner

Traineeship Programme (Merseyside)
NHS Liverpool Clinical Laboratories

Liverpool Clinical Laboratories (LCL) is a multidisciplinary NHS pathology service, jointly owned by the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals and University Hospitals Aintree, developed to provide high quality diagnostic and autopsy services as well as specialist pathology services. They welcomed their first traineeship students in 2017 as part of a bid to use NHS leverage to promote social mobility and to create a sustainable workforce for the future, whilst getting young people interested in careers in healthcare science. A thirteen week course delivered in partnership with Wirral Met College, combines classroom based learning and on the job training, with the aim of enhancing students CV’s and furthering their career options after school or college. Students are taught how to receive and check blood and tissue samples and perform laboratory reception duties, giving them the skills and experience which could help them go on to apply for a job as a healthcare science assistant.

Dave Eccleston, Head of Modernising Scientific Careers at LCL says,’ The course is an opportunity to not only show young people the range of rewarding and valued careers in the NHS, but to give them skills and experience to make their CV stand out from the crowd. By offering a high quality work experience placement at the end of the training, students boost their chances of getting paid employment and improve their career prospects, whether that’s with us or with other NHS organisations.’ The project has evolved to ensure it is fully inclusive of the local community.

Nominated by Nicholas Fowler-Johnson

Widening Participation in Health and Care Project Runner-up

Widening Participation and CSR – Salford Royal Foundation Trust