Students celebrate work at hospital
Thu, 17 July 2014
Last week was a big week for students who were part of the Supported Internships Scheme as they successfully completed a year’s internship at Tameside Hospital. The hospital was thrilled with their progress as a year of hard work was celebrated with a staff lunch and a presentation with certificates of completion.
The Supported Internships Scheme was introduced by the government to help young people aged 16 to 24 with learning difficulties or disabilities to help them find work. Study programmes include: on-the-job training with expert coaches responsible for supporting both interns and their employers and the opportunity to study units to develop other relevant skills, such as effective communication or understanding money.
Tameside College worked in partnership with not-for-profit disabilities organisation, Pure Innovations and Tameside Council to find suitable work for the students that would develop their skills and give them work experience. Nina Hinton, Manager for projects with young people at Pure Innovations said: “Every one of our interns has a talent and a contribution to make, we just help bridge the gaps between those skills and employment.”
The scheme has been a big success with four interns securing permanent contracts at Tameside Hospital and a further four interns hoping to start job trials in temporary administrative roles within their maternity department.
Yvonne Hewitt, HR Project Manager for Tameside Hospital said: “All the interns have done a fantastic job. We’re so pleased that they enjoyed working at the hospital, we’re looking forward to seeing those return that have accepted permanent contracts with us.”
Supported Internship Tutor, Jane Massam finished by saying: “We’d like to thank Pure Innovations, Tameside Council and Tameside Hospital for joining us in this partnership, their hard work, patience and generosity has resulted in ten young people gaining valuable work experience, becoming more confident and prepared them to take up all the opportunities offered to them.”