Health Education England chief welcomes National Careers Week

Dr Navina Evans, HEE’s chief executive, has pledged support for National Careers Week with a rallying call to potential recruits to join the ‘NHS family’.

As the week turns its spotlight on the NHS today, she said: “It’s a really proud thing to be part of this movement, and I really do believe it’s a movement.

“It’s a most rewarding career. The best thing about it is the people – the patients, your colleagues and the communities you get to engage with. It’s really rich, and enriching, to be involved in something that puts you in touch with the human condition every single day.”

National Careers Week (1-6 March) is a celebration of careers guidance and free resources in education across the UK. The aim is to provide a focus for careers guidance activity at an important stage in the academic calendar to help support young people leaving education.

Within the NHS more than 350 careers are available, meaning there are jobs to suit everyone, regardless of age or background.

Dr Evans talks about her inspiration to join the NHS here:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4ZwQeshK_4&feature=youtu.be

Interest in health and care careers has soared during the pandemic, with a huge surge in visitors to the NHS Health Careers website seeking information about scores of different roles.

Record numbers of students have applied to begin nursing courses at English universities this year, while last year saw the highest ever number of acceptances for GP training posts.

Data suggests that more people are not only looking for an NHS career, but looking to find one that matches their skills and interests. The number of people completing the ‘Find your Career’ tool on the website increased by 150 per cent in the last two months compared with the same period in 2020.

Interest in working in mental health has also increased since the start of the year, with a 133 per cent rise in people seeking information about the psychological professions.

Among the roles attracting increased inquiries are those of clinical psychologist, child well-being practitioner and high-intensity therapist.

Non-clinical roles in NHS management and health informatics, which includes IT and library and knowledge management roles, have also seen surges in interest since the start of this year, while interest in working for NHS 111 has risen by a very sizeable 43 per cent.

For details of the hundreds of careers available in the NHS, visit the NHS Health Careers website here:- https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/