Congratulations to the first graduates of our innovative 'Volunteer to career' programme.

The Trust's Chief Allied Health Professional, Caroline Hopper, recently joined Senior Physiotherapist, Rabel Sundro, to celebrate the achievements of the programme’s first cohort. Participants were all graduates and experienced overseas qualified healthcare clinicians in psychology and physiotherapy.

Over the past six months, nine candidates have been recruited to the programme, with eight successfully completing more than 100 hours of volunteering. During the programme, participants supported patients with neuro-disabilities over a 12-week period, took part in acute and community clinical observation sessions, received one-to-one career coaching, and attended a bespoke employability webinar series.

The programme has already delivered impressive outcomes. Six participants have secured paid roles within the NHS or the wider allied healthcare sector. In addition, all 11 patients supported by the Trust's Community Neuro Rehabilitation Team (CNRT) through the programme showed improvements in functional movement and made progress towards their independent living goals.

We look forward to celebrating the achievements of the second cohort when they graduate in September.

Thank you to all colleagues involved and to Kingston Hospital Charity for providing funding for the programme, for its first year.