The future of medicine came early to Cramlington as a delivery of NHS scrubs saw primary school pupils dress up in scrubs as part of a new project designed to "spark curiosity" about working in the health service - and with the NHS facing a continued workforce crisis, these kids might be needed sooner than they think...
The "mini-scrubs" project will see hundreds of scrubs sent to every primary, first and special school across Northumberland, North Tyneside, Newcastle and Gateshead. The idea is that children will be able to see the wide-range of NHS professions - from doctors and nurses to physios, biomedical scientists and even chefs or gardeners. The first school to receive the scrubs was Northburn Primary in Cramlington.
Funding for the scheme comes from Health Education England North East - and the idea is to draw attention to the fact there are more than 350 job roles in the health and social care field. Teacher Jill Nicholson - who is the school's science lead - said: "“I really like the idea of if you can see it, you can be it as that chimes with what we try to do with our students.
"Even at primary level opening their eyes to career opportunities that are available to them is a key part of the curriculum and we want to ensure that no child feels there are limitations to what the can do with their life. The class had a fantastic time using the scrubs and learning about health and care careers, with many of them discovering roles they didn’t know exist and wanting to learn more about how they can be part of the health and care sector when they’re older."
Ruth Auton heads up education and learning for the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust. She explained how education and widening participation were part of the trust's "Community Promise". She added: "The health and social care sector is so important to the North East not just in terms of the support it provides to our communities, but as an employer, so we’re really keen to showcase all of the opportunities that are available to our young people."
Sarah Kilner, workforce lead with the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), added: “This is all part of us developing an ongoing relationship with our workforce of the next generation. We want to be here for our potential employees throughout their education through schemes like this for primary school children and then work experience, careers events and other activities to engage older students, as part of building that health and care family for the future."
The scrubs have been made at Northumbria Healthcare's manufacturing and innovation hub. Based in Seaton Delaval, the trust now think the facility - created at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic - is "on a trajectory" to become the county's leading supplier of PPE in the health and social care sector.
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