• Our College
    • About Walsall College
    • Alumni
    • Contact Us
    • Enterprises
    • Events
    • Governance
    • Locations
    • News
    • Open Days
    • Our Partners
    • Policies & Procedures
    • Services For Schools
    • Term Dates – 2024/25
  • Study with us
    • All Subjects
    • Free Adult Courses
    • Course Search
    • Courses For School Leavers
    • Apprenticeships
    • Courses For Adults
    • Distance Learning
    • University Level
    • A Levels
    • T Levels
    • Access To HE
  • Students
    • Walsall College Graduate
    • Careers Guidance
    • Student Finance
    • Student Support
    • Student Enrichment
    • Ready Respect Safe
  • Parents
    • FAQ’s For Parents
    • Pastoral Support Officers
    • Raising The Participation Age
    • Work Experience
    • Working With Parents
  • Employers
    • Apprenticeships
    • Path 2 Apprenticeships – Employers
    • Innovation Service
    • More Employers Services
  • Jobs
    • Current Jobs
    • Additional Careers information
    • Apprenticeship Jobs
  • Course Search
Contact Us
  •   Get a Prospectus
  • |
  •   Home Access
  • |
Walsall CollegeWalsall College
  • Our College
    • About Walsall College
    • Alumni
    • Contact Us
    • Enterprises
    • Events
    • Governance
    • Locations
    • News
    • Open Days
    • Our Partners
    • Policies & Procedures
    • Services For Schools
    • Term Dates – 2024/25
  • Study with us
    • All Subjects
    • Free Adult Courses
    • Course Search
    • Courses For School Leavers
    • Apprenticeships
    • Courses For Adults
    • Distance Learning
    • University Level
    • A Levels
    • T Levels
    • Access To HE
  • Students
    • Walsall College Graduate
    • Careers Guidance
    • Student Finance
    • Student Support
    • Student Enrichment
    • Ready Respect Safe
  • Parents
    • FAQ’s For Parents
    • Pastoral Support Officers
    • Raising The Participation Age
    • Work Experience
    • Working With Parents
  • Employers
    • Apprenticeships
    • Path 2 Apprenticeships – Employers
    • Innovation Service
    • More Employers Services
  • Jobs
    • Current Jobs
    • Additional Careers information
    • Apprenticeship Jobs
  • Course Search

19 Plus

Home » News & Blog » Meet Sylwia – one of 139 jobseekers helped into healthcare careers

Meet Sylwia – one of 139 jobseekers helped into healthcare careers

  • Categories 19 Plus, Employability, Employer News, News & Blog
  • Date 11th August 2023
Sylwia Staniszek female learner profile pic facing

A Walsall programme to support jobseekers to find roles in healthcare has helped 139 people into work – with one new recruit declaring it “a life changer.”

The Work4Health programme was developed by whg to help residents secure roles as Healthcare Assistants at Walsall Manor Hospital.

Created in partnership with Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, Walsall College and the Department for Work and Pensions, the programme aims to overcome the barriers and obstacles felt by many jobseekers when looking for work.

Designed specifically around jobs available within the Trust, it combines skills training, work experience, application form support, mock interview practice and a guaranteed job interview for roles at the hospital. The programme has been hugely successful, supporting 139 people into work.

Former childminder Sylwia Staniszek, 46, is a Clinical Support Worker on Ward 29 and the Emergency Department (ED) at Walsall Manor Hospital after completing the programme.

“When the pandemic started I had to shut down my nursery and started doing lots of voluntary jobs for the NHS. I found out I would love to work for the NHS,” said Sylwia, who started at the Trust in January 2022.

“The course helped me prepare for interview and showed me how to fill out all the paperwork for the job application. It was very helpful.

“Everything has changed in my life now. I have new skills – I am a Phlebotomist as well. I have learnt a lot and love working with patients.

“I’m helping my patients every day to wash, helping them with their food and drink, taking observations and their bloods. All this I’ve learned at the Manor Hospital.

“Before I started this job, I had no idea about working in healthcare or how the job would look. But every single person, from the staff to the patients, is like my big family and it’s really nice.

“When I came to the UK from Poland 15 years ago, I never dreamt of this. It’s been a great opportunity for me and I’m so grateful to have found this programme.

“It’s also life-changing in that working for the NHS makes you more kind and caring and a better person. I’d like to see more local people involved too – it’s not just for people from overseas and I’ve now got two friends who work for the Trust too as a result of me recommending it to them.”

Sylwia, who lives in Brownhills after coming to the UK from Warsaw, loves her job so much that she now supplements her role with extra shifts in ED.

“You have to learn to work fast in ED – you might be involved in a cardiac arrest or other emergency situation – so the contact with the patient is more intense,” added Sylwia. “There are lots of ECGs to be taken and bloods and I love it – a CSW is the key point of the hospital.”

She has made her life here, along with her daughter, 26, a Lidl store manager, and two grandchildren, who all live in nearby Cannock.

Thanks to its success, whg has launched a similar scheme for local people hoping to work in the care sector. The three-week Care2Care Programme aims to help people develop a basic knowledge of working in the care sector.

Participants develop a basic knowledge of working in care and develop the skills to support their application process.

Marsha Belle, Associate Director of People – Organisational Development and Culture at Walsall Healthcare, said: “Following the initial pilot, the programme was further developed with whg.

“This was primarily to support residents who had been adversely affected by job losses as a result of the pandemic and the closure of many retail and leisure businesses in the area.

“We at Walsall Healthcare are so proud to be part of something that has had such a positive impact on those who showed an interest and now work within the Trust, the patients they care for and the local community.

“It’s great to see this initiative has encouraged further programmes that build on the learning and good practice of the original programme, set up three years ago.

“We aim to continue to grow the programme within Walsall Healthcare to include roles within Estates and Facilities and other entry roles across the Trust.”

Tag:DWP, employability, employability-programme, Healthcare, pre-employment, Walsall-Healthcare-NHS-Trust, whg, Work4Health-Programme

  • Share:
author avatar
Shobby Patel

Previous post

Spotlight on Talent – Georgiana Vasiliu
11th August 2023

Next post

Results Day roaring success
17th August 2023

You may also like

power utilities web
Cody to complete T Level student journey with help from Power Utilities Group
14 May, 2025
Matrix Award reaccred web
Walsall College celebrates successful Matrix Quality CEIAG reaccreditation
1 May, 2025
Condola Dennis with Ashleigh Hodges Fellowship for British Hairdressing web
Condola’s commendation for Garden of Eden creation
16 April, 2025

News & Blog Search

News, Blog & Case Studies

  • A-Level-hybrid-programme
  • Cannock
  • Case Studies
    • A-Levels
    • Access to HE
    • Administration Customer Care Law and Retail
    • Adults 19 Plus
      • Cannock
      • Community Learning
    • Apprenticeships
    • Art & Design and Photography
    • Automotive
    • Aviation, Travel & Tourism
    • Bricklaying
    • Business Finance and Enterprise
    • carpentry
    • Computing & ICT
    • Construction & the Built Environment
    • Deaf Academy
    • Dental
    • Distance Learning
    • Early Years
    • Electrical Installation
    • Employability
    • Employers
    • Engineering
    • English and Maths
    • ESOL and Community Interpretation
    • Fashion
    • Hairdressing & Barbering
    • Health & Social Care
    • Hospitality
    • Industry Placement
    • Law
    • Leadership and Management
    • Media
    • Music & Performing Arts
    • Painting and Decorating
    • Pharmacy
    • Plastering
    • Plumbing and Gas
    • Public Services
    • School Leavers
    • School Leavers
    • Science
    • Signmaking
    • Sport
    • Student Support
    • Supported Learning
    • T Levels
    • Teacher Training
    • University Level
    • Walsall College staff
  • Community Learning
    • Connecting Communities
  • Connecting Communities
  • Construction College Midlands
  • Law
  • News & Blog
    • 16-19s
    • 19 Plus
    • A Levels
    • Access To He
    • Administration, Customer Care, Law and Retail
    • Apprenticeships
    • Art & Design and Photography
    • Automotive
    • Aviation, Travel & Tourism
    • Beauty
    • Bricklaying
    • Business Finance and Enterprise
    • carpentry
    • community learning
    • Computing & ICT
    • Construction & the Built Environment
    • Construction College Midlands
    • Creative
    • Dental
    • Distance Learning
    • E-Sports
    • Early Years
    • Electrical Installation
    • Employability
    • Employer News
    • Engineering
    • English and Maths
    • ESOL and Community Interpretation
    • Fashion
    • Games Art
    • Graphic Design
    • Hairdressing & Barbering
    • Health & Social Care
    • Hospitality
    • Industry Placement
    • Media
    • Music & Performing Arts
    • Pharmacy
    • Photography
    • Plumbing and Gas
    • Public Services
    • Science
    • Signmaking
    • Sport
    • Student Support
    • Supported Internship
    • Supported Learning
    • T Levels
    • Teacher Training
    • Uncategorised
    • University Level
    • Young People (14-16)
  • Orbital-10
  • Painting and Decorating
  • Protective Services
  • Recruitment
  • roofing
  • Traineeships
  • Warehousing

logo-walsall college

Walsall College,
Wisemore Campus,
Littleton Street West,
Walsall,
WS2 8ES

Contact Us

Corporate

  • Governance
  • Meet The Governors
  • Ofsted
  • Partners
  • Policies & Procedures
  • Privacy Policy
  • Services For Schools

Legal

  • Disclaimer
  • Cookie Policy
  • Cookie Settings
  • Complaints Procedure
  • Site Map
  • General Conditions of Purchase
  • Accessibility Statement

Staff & Students

  Home Access

ceop

Social Media

Keep in Touch...

We use cookies to collect information about how you use our website.
We use this information to make the website work as well as possible and to improve our services. If you accept all of our cookies you will be accepting advertising, performance and analytics cookies.
You can find more information in our cookie policy.
Accept All Set Preferences Cookie Policy
Cookie Settings

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorised as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyse and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

For more information please read our cookie policy
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Some pages use eventbrite as a booking service. We use essential 1st party cookies from eventbrite.com and related top level domains. Please see eventbrites cookie policy for further details.

You may disable eventbrite cookies by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Analytics

We’d like to set analytic cookies to help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. For more information on how these cookies work please see our privacy policy.

Advertisement

These cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign.

Performance

Use this toggle to the left to manage how your browser uses performance cookies. on this website.

Save & Accept