First year medical students join NHS as healthcare workers First-year medical students Charlie Nicholls, 23, and Slade Badenhorste, 22 Medical students who only started their course last year are joining the NHS to help support staff in hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic. The student volunteers from Swansea University have signed up as healthcare support workers, a Band 2 role within NHS Wales. They will be supporting colleagues at Swansea Bay University Health Board by carrying out basic care needs for patients, such as hygiene, food and observations. First year medical student Charlie Nicholls, 23, from Berkshire, said her cohort were due to be going on placement in hospitals at this time. She said: ‘If I can go in and be of some help to someone, that’s great – it doesn’t matter if it’s not doing something medical, even if I’m just someone to chat to. Who needs to go to work, who needs to stay at home and who is classed as a key worker? ‘I want to play a part, I want to be able to say that I’ve done something to help and hopefully make some sort of a difference.’ Prince Charles opens The Dragon’s Heart Hospital in Cardiff, Wales (Picture: Getty) Slade Badenhorste, 22, from Derbyshire, also a first-year medical student at Swansea University, added: ‘If I can help, why wouldn’t I?’ Paul Lee, medical devices training manager at Swansea Bay University Health Board, described how people had felt the ‘calling’ to help amid the coronavirus pandemic. He said: ‘They see it as a call to arms and as an organisation, we provide them with the support they need and all the training that we expect to give any normal member of staff, albeit in a fast-track and condensed way. ‘We have people ringing us up and asking to come on the course. ‘We started these courses two weeks ago and they are fully booked for the next three or four weeks.’ Cubicles in the Dragon Heart’s Hospital Mr Lee said the students, including those in their first year, would be providing ‘the fundamentals of care’ during their role as healthcare support workers, including looking after a patient’s feeding and managing their care and their needs. They will be able to undertake shifts once pre-employment checks are completed, they have finished the induction programme and manual handling training, and a shadow shift. Up to 3,800 healthcare students from across Wales are joining the NHS workforce, with their roles reflecting their skills and the stage they have reached in their training. More than 2,000 former health and social care professionals have re-registered, while many staff not currently working on the “shop floor” have completed courses in order to do so. Source
