Clinical work experience - how did you get it?

I found mine online. Apply early.

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A lot of hospitals offer clinical work experience, so I'd suggest contacting your local hospital and ask if they do. If not, you should volunteer there anyway to get experience of being in a hospital environment- this will also impress universities.

That is the thing though, I did plenty of voluneering in secondary and sixth form but still was asked about work experience in my interview. Yes, I will start volunteering again it's just this time I want to have all bases covered.

Email people. Go on hospital websites and find the email address for clinical leads/consultants for departments. Send them a polite email explaining your situation and some will be willing to help, then it's just a case of liaising with the hospital work experience team. It takes quite a while to organise so you have to be prepared to put the time in. Also you have to consider travel/accommodation cost depending on how far away the hospital is. But my point overall is that it is possible without any contacts. I emailed about 50 people asking for work experience in lots of hospitals and got about 8 weeks from that. Most people didn't even bother to reply, but it only took 8 people of those 50 to say yes and hence I spent all last summer in hospitals observing in lots of departments. Good luck to you

I volunteered at my hospital and after 6 months or so I asked how to arrange some clinical work experience. The lady who arranged my volunteering put me into contact with the work experience organiser who got me signed up onto the same scheme that they use for school/college students, despite being 26 at the time. I got to shadow doctors, the odd nurse, and a radiographer, across various departments (from x-ray and dialysis to MAU and fracture clinic) of the hospital over 7 days. Great experience!

It is entirely possible to get shadowing experience without knowing somebody, you just have to be incredibly persistent and somewhat annoying

Thank you, that does sound great! If you don't mind me asking, what type of volunteer work did you do? Glad to hear all that persistence paid off

I served tea and coffee on a ward at my local hospital for 3-4 hours on a Sunday morning-lunchtime.

Now I've been a HCA for over a year

Email all your nearby GP surgeries and follow them up with a phone call a week later if they don't respond to your email.Also try Hillingdon Hospital(if it is nearby for you), they have their own work experience directory.

Email all your nearby GP surgeries and follow them up with a phone call a week later if they don't respond to your email.Also try Hillingdon Hospital(if it is nearby for you), they have their own work experience directory.