College students get insight into healthcare industry

19th March 2021

Barnsley College Health, Science and Social Care Professions students have had the opportunity to hear from a range of virtual guest speakers as part of Health and Social Care Industry Week.

Claire Cahill, Owner of Accendo, Confidence and Business Coaching and Training, delivered two interactive session to students. The first session was a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis workshop where Claire encouraged students to analyse their attributes to identify how each element can support them on their journey into their preferred careers. Claire’s second session focussed on goal-setting and spotting the motivators in their lives that will help them to aspire for success in the future, both in their personal lives and in their careers.

Tom Warrender, Director of Medical Mavericks, was also among the week’s guest speakers. Tom presented ‘The Human Guinea Pig Show’, an entirely interactive session where he discussed the varying careers in healthcare science including those that are patient-facing such as cardiac physiologists and non patient-facing roles including medical engineers. He demonstrated the use of varying medical equipment from ultrasound machines and electrocardiogram (ECG) reports to ophthalmoscopes and live footage of bronchoscopy procedures.

Students also heard from Laura Lawton, a fundraiser for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Laura spoke about why fundraising for Yorkshire Air Ambulance is vital to its existence and how donated money is used to purchase new helicopters, high-specification medical equipment and personal protective equipment.

Other guest speakers who participated in the Health and Social Care Industry Week included Mike Lawrence, Health and Wellbeing Management Consultant; Richard Gettings, Gareth Stanton and Andy Cunnington, Directors of The Daparian Foundation; Nicola Tiffany, Managing Director of HMA and Dave Kneeshaw, Director of Better Minds.

Nia Parry, a Level 2 Health and Social Care student, said: “My favourite session of the week was ‘The Human Guinea Pig Show’ as it informed me about the jobs within the NHS that I wasn’t already aware of! Tom engaged with us all so well and I found his show really interesting.

“I will definitely be applying what I learnt in this session to my studies and it has encouraged me to find out more about the different types of careers in the NHS.”

Mark Greveson, Course Leader for Health, Science and Social Care Professions at Barnsley College, added: “Industry Weeks are so beneficial to not only the students but also to the Health and Social Care Professions staff as it allows us to hear from real-time professionals. I look forward to working with Tom from Medical Mavericks as we return to normality as we hope to bring his workshop to life, inviting him into the College so students can get hands on with the equipment he shared with us virtually in our simulated ward.”

The week’s events were organised by the College’s Enterprise department in order to broaden students’ knowledge about their potential future career paths, inform them of the varying occupations and ensure greater understanding of the skill-sets required to work in the Healthcare industry.

The College continues to Transform Lives and help our students to fulfil their full potential. We aim to provide them with an outstanding experience, to ensure that they leave us as well-rounded individuals, ready to take the next step into Higher Education or a career. Industry Weeks allow our students to gain first-hand knowledge and insight into their chosen industry and inspire them to progress onto higher level study or employment and reach their full potential.

For more information about Health, Science and Social Care Professions courses at Barnsley College visit www.barnsley.ac.uk/health or email info@barnsley.ac.uk