NHS work experience for degree

[aluminiumwaterbottle]

I’m in my late 20s with a baby doing an Access Course, hoping to go into Occupational Therapy. I’m enjoying my course but my GCSE profile is very weak so I want to strengthen my position in other ways, such as getting some shadowing days in an OT unit, the uni is very clear that they expect this.

I live in a big city so thought I’d find something quite easily but when I rang one of the hospitals to discuss getting a shadowing day I was rudely told “I don’t have time for this right now, I’ve got patients to help!” which made me feel awful and like I was wasting their time. She said she’d maybe get somebody to email me later. That was 2 weeks ago and made me feel like an idiot. I haven’t had the courage to call again but I know I need to get on with it.

How have others sorted this out?

Services are very stretched at the moment and lots of staff are close to breaking point. She shouldn't have been rude but sounds like you caught her at a moment of overwhelm.

I got experience by volunteering at stroke groups and with children with additional needs. It was good, relevant experience that I could talk about at interview.

Does it have to be in a hospital? What about a community based OT team?

Do the university or college have contact details for someone you can contact?

It might be worth contacting the education and development dept at the hospital to see if they can help organise shadowing. Or go on the trust website and see if you can find an email address for the nurse/matron in charge??

My local council also employs occupational therapists so that might be an option worth looking into.

There's probably a central department/person in the hospital who deals with requests for shadowing and placements. As PP suggests most likely in the education department.
Try asking the switchboard for the person in charge of placements or widening access.

You wouldn't be able to shadow in any nhs trust I've worked with.... you have to have a dbs check even to formally volunteer ....and you wouldn't be volunteering ....we get loads 9f students from the uni....but they are checked by uni .....you would need public liability insurance as well as the NHS one wouldn't cover you.....imagine if you caused an accident a injured a patient....you need to rethink this

@kitcat15

Every uni states you have to have shadowed to even be considered for the degree. What am I supposed to do?

Are you at Brighton?

Contact the community team or social services’ disability or elderly teams. And I really hope that one at the hospital isn’t where you’ll have to have a placement.

Usually to arange work experience you do it in writing a couple of months in advance with a covering letter explaining why you’re applying and your CV. Then you follow up with a phone call if you don’t hear back within a few weeks. Surprised the college didn’t advise on that, it’s standard across most industries!

Could you try private hospitals? They tend to be less stretched and have more time. Try and get a mix of contact, even if you can’t shadow people just having time to talk to different people about their role so talk to as many people as possible. Contact the lead OT for an organisation and ask if they can help you to speak to people.

Can you volunteer with care home or clinics that may well have OTs coming in?

Contact a none nhs establishment….but the dbs requirement will still be there

But not healthcare….when you working with patients you can’t be too careful

But these OTs are still regulated by the same Regulatory body and have to adhere to their standards….you can’t have a random person coming off the streets and shadowing an OT in clinics or elsewhere….they would not only require public liability insurance and a dbs…but there is also confidentiality and consent to consider……. With OT students and nursing students etc, they have already covered this in uni before being allowed out on place,ents and the uni provide a dbs and public liability insurance

You need to call the HR department and ask to speak to someone about work experience. It's not just for school students. You best bet would be a large teaching hospital rather than a smaller district one.
For community work, do the same - the HR dept of the NHS community trust.

I'm an SLT. We offer some shadowing to prospective students but there is a fixed group session we invite them to. Unfortunately we rarely can offer anything more due to the amount of students on placement with us.

The dbs and liability issues don't seem to be an issue for us. Obviously we wouldn't leave someone unattended and we get consent. Particularly at group sessions for children there are other parents there who obviously aren't dbs checked.

I would suggest emailing places. An email will hopefully get passed on to the relevant person. The unis want to make sure you know what you are applying for but unfortunately it can be tricky to set something up.

I’ve worked as an OT manager and a lecturer.

Ive said as much above but if you explain that you’ve been unable to get shadowing experience but you have met / spent time with OTs in a range of settings suggest in patient physical, community physical, mental health (community and hospital if possible), social services and paediatrics that will give you a good overview of a range of settings and the diversity of the role which is essentially what they want you to be able to talk about.

Thanks for the advice everyone. By work experience, I don’t mean an ongoing placement. Nothing hands on really. Sorry I should have been more clear. Literally just one or two sessions in an OT environment and seeing what they do firsthand is what the uni want. Directly from the uni website:

‘Your understanding of occupational therapy as a profession and the impact that illness and disability may have on a person's life. Therefore, you are strongly advised to visit at least two clinical occupational therapy departments as this will enable you to give examples of occupational therapists working in physical and mental health settings’

They also say elsewhere than upon application they want to see this in my personal statement, or at least see that I’m ‘in the process’ of trying to find such an opportunity. So to me that reads that they are understanding that it can be difficult to find something.

I will keep looking and also have some other things lined up in the meantime, such as volunteering at a social group for adults with special needs. Not OT, but can prove my interest in working with vulnerable adults.

Why don’t you ask if you can link into one of the community online workshop sessions…..eg in my community trust parents can attend sensory processing workshops ( aimed at supporting parents with children who have complex sensory issues) ….. just an idea?

Sorry, meant to say…these workshops are run by community OTs

I thought I would update for those in a similar predicament who may end up finding this thread.

I used this website:
rcotss-ip.org.uk/find
and messaged a few OTs near me. They all said they couldn’t have me shadow with them but have referred me directly to some NHS trusts they work with, and things are moving along. I am also meeting one of them for a coffee and chat about OT.

Contacting NHS trusts without a middle man doesn’t seem to get me anywhere. They simply didn’t have time for me, and I don’t mean that in a snarky way, I get it.

I was also thinking that there might be OTs on here who would be happy to talk to you or maybe private message if they want to retain their anonymity. I wouldn’t mind if you want to talk to someone with a mental health background

Have you tried applying to volunteer. This is how my ds got relevant experience for a medicine application.

Our nhs trust offers work experience , when not in Covid etc, but you need to check the website regularly and apply early. Also find out who has the community contract in your area, it may be the council or a healthcare provider under Reablement or Intermediate care, where they assess and visit home environments to support those being or recently discharged from hospital or residential rehab. There may also be longer term residential hospitals or care facilities which offer voluntary or work experience opportunities.

I'm a SLT - I got on the course with my work experience from a prior career, but I know the SLT world in general is incredibly helpful with people who are interested! I'd reach out online to your Royal College - ask if they can put a shout out on social media.

Other than that - groups like the Stroke Association, Headway, Mencap that might be taking on volunteers - not specifically looking at the OT role as such - but just having an appreciation of the impact difficulties can have on client groups you're likely to come across, and seeing the people behind the diagnosis would probably be valuable.