Experience of the Workplace & Apprenticeships
Work Experience
Here at the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (RUH), we understand how important experience of the workplace opportunities are in supporting young people to make decisions about their future career and when applying for jobs and courses.
Hear from some of our recent work experience students:
Hannah enjoyed a placement with our Recruitment Team.
She said:
“My work experience placement was beyond interesting - I was able to gain an insight into the varied tasks of both the recruitment and HR departments. This is really going to influence my post-A Level direction as I wasn't sure what I wanted to do after school.
"Everyone was so friendly, not only to me but each other too, which is making me less nervous about joining a work/office environment. I was so fortunate to get this placement, as I wasn't aware the NHS covered this type of job (recruitment) for work experience and everyone being able to take time to go through the jobs with me.
"Not only were the tasks informative, but people sharing their experiences and recommendation, if they were able to redo their education was so interesting and beneficial to hear about.”
Sara enjoyed a placement with a doctor working on the Acute Stroke Unit.
She said:
“I'm so thankful to have done my work experience in the Acute Stroke Unit at the RUH. In just two days, I learned so much from everyone I met during ward rounds and in clinic and I saw first-hand the incredible teamwork and patient care. It’s been such a valuable and inspiring experience as I look ahead to applying for medicine. Thank you!”
Tristan enjoyed his placement with Gastroenterology department.
He said:
“I have just completed the work placement feedback form and just wanted to say thank you so much for the chance of the work experience I found it incredibly helpful and unbelievably useful in confirming my option of future study and careers, I was also hoping you could pass on my thanks to the Gastroenterology department because they were so friendly and helpful and have given me lots of advice and stuff to think about.”
About our experience of the workplace programme
We're passionate about inspiring the next generation of healthcare professionals. Our experience of the workplace programme gives students the opportunity to explore the wide range of careers available within the NHS and gain valuable insight into working in a hospital environment.
Experience of the workplace can help young people to better understand the working environment and make the transition from education into working life by giving you:
- First-hand experience of the workplace with an insight into roles and specialities within the NHS
- A chance to develop transferable skills, which you can take forward into a new environment
- Insight into how your skills and abilities translate to the workplace
- Opportunity to find out more about yourself and what inspires you
- Increased confidence and understanding about the work environment
- Understanding of potential employability skills you have or need
- Experience which can be added to your university, apprenticeship or job applications demonstrating what you have learned and skills gained
- Increased understanding of working in an NHS organisation
What we offer
Please find below the dates for our next set of activities for those young people who are in school years 7 to 13.
Our Career Evening for year 7+, runs twice a year from 5 – 7:30pm to allow students to get here without missing any of their study time.
For further information around which activities are open, etc., please refer to the “How do I apply section” below.
- Careers Evening – 1st October 2026
- Careers Evening – 2nd March 2027
- Careers Evening – 4th October 2027
Our Year 10 & 11 'Introduction to Careers in the NHS' next set of dates planned 5th - 7th July 2027. Provide opportunities to understand what grades you need and ask professionals question about their role before applying at year 12 for face to face placement as part of your school’s work experience week.
Years 12 & 13 experience of the workplace is two-days in general from 9am - 4pm. This will vary to meet the needs of the area, as some of our supervisors will want you in placement for 7:30 am. Some of our more specialist area placements may only be for 1 day. Application will open on the week on the 7th December and will close at midnight on the 9th January 2027. These are for our face-to-face placements which takes place between April - August 2027.
Please note, that we do not shortlist your application but those staff who agreed to have placements will do the shortlisting. Therefore, it is unlikely that you will hear anything until mid-end March on the outcome of your application based on the numbers we receive over the last few years.
How do I apply?
Around 8 weeks prior, we will open the applications or provide you a link on this page to book a place on the event you are interested in. We will also share these events with the career teachers/advisors in schools and colleges for those in our catchment area.
- Careers Evening – 1st October 2026 Sold out
- Careers Evening 2nd March 2027 - Closed
- Careers Evening 4th October 2027 - Closed
- Year 10 & 11 Introduction to Careers in the NHS - applications closed
- Years 12 & 13 'Experience of the Workplace' (previously work experience) – applications closed
To read more, click on the title below for the relevant section below (then click again to close it).
- When there is a link next to the date or event above
- Applications will only be accepted though the application process window
- EotW adverts will go out at the same time, despite they might have different placement dates
- Keep an eye on this page - when applications are open, we will update the Current Work Experience Opportunities section of this page and include details about the type of work experience available, closing date for applications
- You can keep informed about when adverts go live by following @RUH_Careers on Twitter, liking the RUH's Facebook page or following RUHBath on Instagram
(*you need to be aged 13 or over to hold these social media accounts)
You need to be living and/or studying in the RUH's catchment area. This includes Bath, Chippenham, Corsham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Bradford on Avon, Westbury, Frome, Keynsham, Brislington and surrounding villages. If you are not within this catchment, contact your local hospital in the first instance to see how they can support you.
Our 'Experience of the Workplace' is only available to people in year 12 or 13 or in their first or second year of college. We do not offer face to face experience of the workplace to students in years 10 and 11. There is an in-house classroom-based programme as listed above for those who are in years 10 & 11.
- You can only do work experience if a supervisor in the relevant department is available to fully supervise your time at the RUH and if the Apprenticeship and Career Engagement Team has completed your ID checks and referencing
- The Trust is unable to offer work experience in the following clinical areas: Theatres, Critical Care, the Emergency Department, any Paediatric area and Maternity
- Our policy covers short periods of work experience only. Work experience programmes are designed to provide a taster of hospital life and are typically 2 consecutive days. Shorter placements mean that we can better match demand with the work experience opportunities available
- This application process does not support longer placements (e.g. an elective placement that lasts several weeks and is part of a university degree). For these, you would need to contact the relevant department directly to see if they are able to welcome you
- Visit our Advice and Support page for information about careers in the NHS including resources and helpful links. This page also lists other activities that you could get involved with at the RUH
- Visit our Apprenticeship page for information about apprenticeships at the RUH
We prefer all queries related to experience of the workplace - including telephone and email enquiries - to be made by students themselves, rather than by friends, parents or guardians enquiring on their behalf. We believe that communicating with NHS staff directly is an excellent learning opportunity for all students.
To contact the Apprenticeship and Career Engagement Team, email ruh‑tr.careersengage@nhs.net or call us on 01225 826041 or 01225 821089.
Click here to read our Careers Engagement and Work Experience Policy.
To find out more about safeguarding, read the RUH Safeguarding Children and Young People declaration.
*Email receipt from internet email addresses (e.g. hotmail.com) can be unreliable. Sometimes messages are silently lost or sometimes a delivery notification is returned even if the message has not been received by the recipient. Where delivery assurance is required please ask the sender to reply to you confirming receipt.
These exciting resources from NHS England with Youth Employment UK to support the next generation of NHS professionals.
These resources help young people understand the wide range of rewarding career paths in health and science, from frontline patient care to vital roles behind the scenes and aim to open doors for young people from all backgrounds, giving them the knowledge and confidence to take their first steps towards a fulfilling career in the NHS.
To contact the Apprenticeship and Career Engagement Team, email ruh‑tr.careersengage@nhs.net or call us on 01225 821050.
Click here to read our Careers Engagement and Work Experience Policy.
To find out more about safeguarding, read the RUH Safeguarding Children and Young People declaration.
*Email receipt from internet email addresses (e.g. hotmail.com) can be unreliable. Sometimes messages are silently lost or sometimes a delivery notification is returned even if the message has not been received by the recipient. Where delivery assurance is required please ask the sender to reply to you confirming receipt.
As part of RUH experience of the workplace, we collect and process personal data relating to your placement. We are committed to being open about how we collect and use that data and to meeting our data protection obligations in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
A privacy notice is a statement published by an organisation which explains how personal and confidential data about individuals is collected, used and shared. To find out more, click here to access our Careers Engagement Privacy Notice.
National labour market information tells you about jobs and industries in the UK as a whole, whereas local labour market information focuses on one particular area - e.g. Cumbria. When researching the labour market for specific careers, both local and national information can be helpful.
Looking at national labour market information will give you a good overall picture of the opportunities open to you in each career area.
We use labour market information that tells us about the local or national demand there is for different skills and from different industries. Labour market information tells us:
- Which jobs are likely to be easiest or hardest to find in our area
- Which are the big employers in different areas and which ones have jobs on offer
- What skills employers are looking for and which are in short supply
- How much you can expect to be paid in specific jobs
- What working conditions are like
- What qualifications will be most helpful if you want a certain career
- What the jobs of the future might look like and which jobs might disappear
When looking at your career options at school, it's important that you find out as much as you can about the industry that you'd like to work in. Knowing how much you'll be paid, how competitive the job market is and where most jobs are based can all influence your decision in pursuing a career.
We have strong links with our partners with the our system, where we work together by ensuring that the informed presented in the LMI for B&ANES and Wiltshire labour market intelligence are linked to those placement areas in key areas which are supported through vocational pathways.
Through our ambassador networks in the RUH, we provide support when applying for job and helping them understanding the job market.
The Trust offers a number of different opportunities in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks.
Trust SEND offer
Our careers programmes are:
- Step-in, this is where our current provision doesn't offer any thing for those with needs that are over 25. The syllabus is strongly linked to 'employability skills' which is at the heart of the learner’s outcomes
- DFN Project SEARCH, we have been running this programme for over 17 years and have employed more than 60 young people who have an Education and a Health plan. The curriculum is developed with managers in each area and detailed in our curriculum plans for each intern
- These includes an employability qualification to show that they have the skills. This will also be backed up with a reference from the Trust, for any future employment opportunities that they undertake
- The programmes have trained staff responsible for delivery of education side of the programme, and they have also got an allocated Job Coach, along with a placement supervisor
- Internship review meetings where interns discuss transition, employment, and study options
Support to each young Person
- With a focus on challenging stereotypical thinking and aspirations of disability and employment through our supported Internships. We have seen how wards/departments have benefited from having these young people in the Trust working
- Where possible the programmes we offer providing a person-centred focus on career development, placements which are linked to skills and their interests. This will also depend on any safeguarding requirements, as some placements areas will not be suitable
- We support care-experienced young people by simplifying our recruitment processes, offering targeted work placements, and building internal supportive structures to enable young people to remain in paid employment
Linking careers to syllabus (Gatsby Benchmark 4)
By linking our careers to the young person education syllabus means connecting everyday lessons to world of work in the 350 different roles that the NHS has to offer.
At its core, this approach changes how a brain processes information. When learning lacks a workplace link, it remains temporary data stored just to pass a test. When linked to a career, that data becomes a permanent, usable tool.
Showing a student how physics keeps an aircraft in the sky or how learning from our history prevents lawful errors from happening, so creates instant cognitive value.
T-Level and BTEC students will be interviewed prior to being offered a placement in which they can complete the hours required for that programme.
Sorry, we do not take year 1 T-level students on any placement. Those on BTEC, we will only be able to support is we have the capacity to do so. Due to high demand for clinical placements, we know that we will not be able to offer everyone a place.
- Through employability programmes and talks with young people we discuss why English and maths and other subjects are key to employers. If any young person applies for a role, they will be offered to study English and Maths if they don't have the required attainment levels on their application.
The RUH is part of a number of different employer groups, to ensure that what we offer to young people can lead into employment or further study to help them to reach their career aspiration.
Feedback happens on a weekly basis to ensure that they are meeting the requirements and exploring further opportunities in the area to help those who are looking for employment.
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