Studying hard towards a dream job in paramedic science

Faye Howells passion for helping people has inspired her to pursue a career in healthcare thanks to a T level course in partnership with Hartlepool College of Further Education and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.

Faye, a T Level in healthcare student, has been working within Hospital @ Home and the Community Respiratory Service based at Billingham Health Centre for one of three department rotations at the Trust. Sharing a bit of her time, Faye explained how her T Level experience is going and how it was helping towards her long term goal of becoming a paramedic:

Tell us a little bit about your T Level Experience so far.

My T level experience so far has been amazing, and I have loved every second of placement.

When I was at the Billingham health centre, we visited COPD patients in their own homes and checked up on them by doing their blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen levels and pulse rate. The nurse I was allocated to on the day would supervise me in taking most of the observations. Before this I had already practiced these at college, so I knew how to do it and this was explained to me again while on placement. We saw eight patients a day, every patient was different and lived in completely different environments.

After we had seen our patients for the day, we would go back to the base and the nurse would type up patient notes. She would explain to me what she was doing and why throughout the process.

I have learnt many things on placement that has fed into my college work. For example, communication skills is a topic on our course and you’re able to put this into practice on placement.

I really want to be a paramedic and want to go university to study paramedic science. I am really looking forward to what the future holds.

Faye Howells, T-Level student at Hartlepool College of Further Education

What have you liked about your time on placement at the Trust?

I have liked working alongside the nurses and seeing what each profession does to help patients along their care journey.

I have found it beneficial for myself to better my knowledge on all professions within healthcare. It really does show how hard everyone works to get our patients better – it is really inspiring.

What do you like about the T Level course?

I love everything about the course. I think its brilliant for people wanting to go into a healthcare profession.

It gives you the opportunity to gain healthcare experience – it is a lot of hands on practical even in class – which is amazing and gives you so much knowledge.

At my college in our classroom for example, we have three hospital beds with two interactive manikins. Which are amazing!

Is there a reason you wanted to pursue a career in healthcare?

I have always wanted to help people and I am passionate about it too. I have always been kind and caring and would go out of my way to help someone anyway I could.

I really want to be a paramedic and want to go university to study paramedic science. I am really looking forward to what the future holds.

How supportive have you found the Education team at the Trust?

The education team at the Trust have been supportive and have held an initial induction day and after that a skills day for us to attend.

They always are so polite and are always interested in how we are getting on in our placements.

Has the placement met your expectations and how useful do you think it will be in your future career plans?

Yes, placement is what I expected it to be. It has been useful when planning my career choice and has just inspired me even more. It is such a good opportunity to be in a healthcare setting with qualified nurses who can support you along the way.

Is there anything you do in your placement that people might not expect to be part of a healthcare role?

There is a lot of admins and records the nurses need to fill out for everything they do, it is not all hands on all off the time. The admin is important as well.

Would you recommend the T Level Health programme to others who want to get into healthcare?

Yes 100%. I have already told lots of my friends starting college this year they should think about it because it is such a good opportunity and gives you so much experience.