Training to be a doctor or nurse is among the top five career preferences on offer to young people at the moment. That’s according to a survey of around four thousand young people with one in ten of them saying that being a doctor was their top pick. The findings come as part of National Careers Week where the NHS has been the talk of the town. Thousands of secondary school children have been attending talks and watching videos in order to learn about the potential availability of a career in the NHS for them.
Current students were given the chance to hear from a wide range of NHS staff about what they did in order to achieve their career goals. They also gave tips on crafting applications for jobs, apprenticeships and training. This was all to help give the next generation the best chance of creating the next tier of NHS professionals who would help to save people’s lives.
There are over 350 different career opportunities within the NHS. Roles included anything from IT professionals, healthcare scientists, healthcare support worker to midwives, nurses and pharmacists.
There is an extremely high demand for health care professionals from members of the public. This means that more and more doctors and nurses need to be employed to satisfy this level of service requirement. The Health Service is committed to growing it’s workforce as part of it’s long term plan which includes doubling the number of medical school training places by 15, 000 and also increasing the number of GP Training places which people can apply for by 50% to 6,000 by 2031. This should all help to cater for the increasing number of patients which doctors have to care for and also help to cater for the wide number of new conditions that may develop through time.
As well as hiring more staff, the current Health Service will be able to pick and choose from a wide range of talent and ensure more training places are offered. This may be through degree apprenticeships so staff can earn while they learn. This helps to ensure that they can meet all the clinical standards which are required by professional regulators. They will be able to do this whilst gaining a recognised qualification.
By 2028, one in six of all training for clinical staff will come through apprenticeship pathways, including more than 850 medical students. Likewise, the number of nursing degrees will rise by 40% in nursing associate training places over five years.
It is estimated that along with measures to keep staff working in the NHS for longer, the health service will have at least 60,000 doctors, 170,000 more nurses and 71,000 more allied health professionals in place by 2036/37 – a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Dr Navina Evans, Chief Workforce, Training and Education Officer, said:
“It’s exciting to see that the NHS is the first-choice employer among teenagers, with doctor sitting first and nursing fifth in the top ten jobs they have their eyes on as a future career, offering the NHS a real opportunity to secure the workforce we need to deliver care for patients.
“Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan we are set to double the number of medical school training places, deliver 24,000 more nurse training places, and increase the number of GP training places by 50% to 6,000 per year by 2031/32, meaning even more teenagers can pursue their career of choice as part of the NHS.
“To meet these ambitions, we need to make sure that young people have the confidence to be able to reach their career ambitions and our Step into the NHS programme will hopefully support many of them with the job-seeking skills they need.”
The NHS has developed a simple quiz which you can take in order to find the right career path for you. It gives detailed information on the different options that may be available to you as well as what to do for your next step. If you’d like to try this quiz, you can find it at:
