Interest in NHS careers reaches birthday peak

As the NHS approaches its 72nd birthday on Sunday, interest in careers within the health service continues to soar.

The newly-revamped online portal to NHS careers is notching up more hits than ever in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, and this seems set to continue.

With more than 350 careers on offer, the NHS Health Careers site (https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/)  has piqued interest from all age groups and skillsets.

The courage and dedication of frontline workers during the pandemic appear to have inspired a whole host of potential NHS workers.

Overall, between March and June there was 3,079,445 visits to the website - a 46% increase  compared with the same period last year.

But searches for undergraduate courses in health careers, including nursing and the allied health professions, rose by a massive 70 per cent, with 2.2 million searches in all.

These included:-

•           149% increase in searches for adult nursing courses;

•           120% increase in searches for child nursing courses;

•           117% increase in searches for learning disability nursing courses;

•           100% increase in searches for mental health nursing courses;

•           142% increase in searches for therapeutic radiography courses;

•           119% increase in searches for diagnostic radiography courses;

•           82% increase in searches for paramedic science courses.

The overall number of page visitors looking for information on training to be a nurse rose by 138% between March and June, with a 103% increase in people seeking information on becoming a paramedic.

There was a 152% increase in interest in diagnostic radiography, and a 218% rise in interest on becoming a high intensity therapist.

Professor Sheona MacLeod, Acting Director of Education and Quality and Executive Medical Director,Health Education England, said:

“As the NHS approaches its 72nd birthday at a time when people value it more than ever, it is really heartening to see that translate into heightened interest in jobs.

“The NHS offers such a wealth of rewarding careers – there really is something for everyone – and the newly-refreshed NHS Health Careers website is there to help them make that choice.”