Health secretary Wes Streeting this week (June 25) announced the launch of a new pilot scheme to “recruit an additional 1,000 people to the NHS from areas worst hit by unemployment”.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DH) said that the recruitment scheme – backed by £5 million – will target those who “historically face barriers into employment”.
This includes young people not in education or training, unpaid carers, care leavers, those with special educational needs, long-term health conditions or disabilities, ethnic minority groups “with no or low-level qualifications”, refugees, asylum seekers and prison leavers, it added.
Read more: Streeting: Community healthcare not ‘all about GPs’
It said that “many” will move on to “important roles” such as those in “pharmacy support”, as well as administration, nursing support and facilities management, for an “exciting, long-term career within health and care”.
The programme “may teach important skills to support a move” into the sector, as well as offering support with job applications and interview preparation and a “work placement in a local health and care employer”, it added.
Speaking at Blackpool Football Club, Streeting said that as the “biggest employer in many towns in England”, the NHS should act as an “engine of local economic growth, giving opportunities in training and work to local people”.
Read more: New workforce plan will be ‘radically different’, Mackey reveals
“Working in the NHS is rightly seen as a high-status secure job, but many people see it as unachievable and out of their reach,” he added.
“The programme will offer a ladder into the world of work for people who find it hardest to break out of unemployment, including over 50s, unpaid carers and disabled people,” he said.
Earlier this month, the health secretary acknowledged that the shift to community healthcare is “not just all about GPs” but failed to recognise community pharmacy in a keynote speech.
