Pictured: Gillian Cairns, Education and Workforce Lead; Emma Heinicke from the Trust Charity ELHT&Me; Dr Damian Lynch and student Waheeda Khatun.
East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) is working closely with a small number of local schools and colleges to pilot a brand new project to encourage and support more people to train as doctors.
The ‘Inclusivity Project’ came out of a workshop session led by Professor Damien Lynch at the Annual ELHT and UCLan Medical Education Conference at Ewood Park in June this year.
“Many young people have the academic capability and the ambition to train to become a doctor but for a number of reasons are put off applying to medical school. This could be due to the demands and complexity of the application process, the finances involved as well as challenges of living away from home.
“There are also a number of students who drop out of studying as they find the impact of having to study hard and live independently overwhelming.
“This project is a package that will provide an insight to being a medical student as well as a career in medicine and support students to fulfil the requirements of the application process to medical school. It will also teach students the life skills they need to live independently before starting university and provide support to students in their early years at medical school. This can be anything from cooking a simple meal to setting the washing machine or budgeting. It is hoped that by giving these skills we can encourage more people to enrol and complete their training as medical students.”
Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver has kindly donated over a 100 of his cook books to the Trust which will enable us to help students create fabulous meals quickly and on a budget.
The Trust hopes to develop its future doctors from the local population and this is part of a wider programme focussing on encouraging young people into careers within the NHS.