More Than 100 ‘Future Heroes’ Attend Virtual Health and Care Careers Event

The annual Health and Social Care Careers Expo ‘Future Heroes’ has been held virtually for the first time, attracting over 100 students from schools and colleges across Hertfordshire and west Essex .

‘Future Heroes’ has been popular with schools and students for several years now, attracting increasing numbers of children each year. It highlights the wide range of interesting roles available in health and social care to people who are keen to make a difference as they build their careers.

Tom Cahill, who leads on Workforce issues for the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care System and is also the Chief Executive at the NHS mental health organisation Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, commented: ‘The NHS is a vital part of the health and social care system, offering a wide variety of rewarding career options. Whether you want to be a paramedic, pharmacist, social worker or psychologist, there are many diverse roles with real prospects to progress your career.

‘Within each profession there are numerous roles and career pathways, such as the new Nursing Associate post, which offers a great stepping stone to becoming a Registered Nurse in one of the many fields of nursing. There really is something for everyone and there are many more routes into health and social care than people are aware of.’

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a large scale interactive event originally planned to take place in Hatfield had to be cancelled. With the pandemic highlighting the vital importance of health and social care staff to our society, it was important for the event to go on – although without the hands-on exhibits and activities that students have become accustomed to.

The virtual event in December included a range of sessions with professionals covering careers within medicine, pharmacy, social care, the ambulance service, hospices, therapy and ‘allied health professional’ roles as well as learning disability, mental health and community nursing. Students also had the option of hearing about everything they need to know on studying a healthcare course at university and tips on the application process.

Feedback from teachers and students was positive:

• ‘The students liked that it was live with real professionals discussing their own personal roles and they found that part very informative. They enjoyed the interactive quiz.’ – Hertford Regional College
• ‘Thank you for organising and delivering the sessions today, they were very informative and received excellent feedback from the students who attended.’ – Jane at Goffs Academy in Cheshunt
• ‘The Medicine session was excellent, great to see the actual people speaking about their roles, together with really interesting content and slides. This sparked good conversations with our students, especially about what they can be working on from now so they can be in the right position when they will apply.’ – Philippa at the John F Kennedy School in Hemel Hempstead
• ‘Thank you very much this was very interesting and helpful!’ – school student

Further information, videos with health and care professionals and advice on health and social care careers can be found on the Hertfordshire and west Essex Health and Care Academy website: academy.healthierfuture.org.uk.