King’s College Hospital inspires local young people to find a career in NHS

28 February 2024 - Local students choose Team King’s for work experience programme

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has offered local students the opportunity to gain valuable life skills while they learn more about roles in areas including paediatric surgery, pharmacy and nursing, through work experience placements.

Students aged between 16 – 19 years old from local schools undertook placements at King’s College Hospital and the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) from 12 – 16 February 2024.

Maria Angela Garces Mocanu, 16, from St Saviour’s and St Olave’s Church of England School in Southwark, spent a week supporting the Trust’s acute deterioration department. She said: “I witnessed so many different things in the week I have been here, and truthfully, I loved every bit of it. This placement made me realise how much I love working in a hospital environment: my goal is to become a healthcare negligence lawyer. This is an experience I will never let go of, and I would do it all over again if I had the chance.”

Ayomide Ojeleke, 16, from Newstead Wood School in Orpington, said: “My time at King’s was an amazing, informative and eye-opening experience. One of my favourite days of work experience had to be observing a coronary angioplasty (a stent insertion into the artery in the heart). It was a fascinating procedure, and I was in awe of the teamwork of the physiologists and the physicians. I now know that medicine is a field with so many career paths and so much to offer. There is always a way to improve the lives of others (surgically and non-surgically) which I find incredible.”

Sarah Quinn, Deputy Director of Learning and Organisational Development at King’s College Hospital, said: “This is a great opportunity for students from our local community get out of the classroom and have a taste of an NHS career. This is the first year of our new work experience programme, and we have welcomed over 200 students to the Trust. Through these work experience placements, we hope these young people have developed new skills, learned about their strengths and areas for development, increased their confidence, and hopefully gained an insight into which career path they want to follow.”