Co-create
Igniting Engagement, Inspiring Futures: Patient Co-creation for Better Care and Support Career Pathways
Working with patients and volunteers is a great way to tackle our most challenging problems in healthcare. At the same time volunteers gain new skills and confidence to gain places at university and employment.
Our NHS work experience programme supports patient engagement and community partners to work with clinicians and staff. We all work on practical projects that address real challenges, such as delivering the NHS 10 Year Plan. We have had over 7,000 people sign up both online and face-to-face. The programme runs as short workshops, project sprints where participants are briefed on an actual service problem, supported to research and prototype ideas, and then present co-designed solutions to practice teams.
Expert staff mentor participants throughout, ensuring outputs are clinically relevant, feasible and ready for local testing.
If you are a health or health tech organisation and want to work with us email admin@hiyos.org or share your email on this form.
If you want to volunteer, please complete this form.
Volunteer to Career – NHS Work experience. How it works
Keep your finger on the pulse!
We know how hard it can be to get NHS work experience. It is hard to know where to start. As a result, Hiyos wants to give you a chance to volunteer. It can help you get into university to study medicine or another healthcare degree. Alternativly, it can help you to explore a change in career to healthcare. You get to hang out with awesome staff, hear their stories, and even choose how you want to join in.
But why are we doing this? In short, we like to innovate. It started with our HIYOS Helpers volunteering programme during COVID. Well, the NHS is like a big family with about 1.6 million people! It’s not just doctors and nurses; there are all sorts of jobs, like paramedics, porters, consultant surgeons, and more.
We ask you to contribute your share your authentic lived-experience insight that uncovers unmet needs, improves service design and builds stronger patient relationships. Volunteers gain skills in communication, problem-solving, digital literacy and workplace experience. We also talk you through employment pathways, certificates and ongoing development opportunities. Collectively, this approach widens access to careers, improves social mobility and promotes health equity by ensuring underrepresented voices shape care.
NHS Numbers
The NHS is a fab place to work and there are lots of clinical and non-clinical roles. There are plenty of opportunities for the application innovations from other industries in healthcare.
1.6m
People work in the NHS.
50%
of roles are non-clinical.
112k
Clinical vacancies.
We need to be creating fair employment for all
The best part? Healthcare is a great place to work! You get to team up with amazing people, take care of patients, and have awesome opportunities for your career. And guess what else? Healthcare is all about treating everyone fairly and equally. So, it’s not just a job – it’s a chance to be part of something awesome! 🌟
Who
Everyone’s welcome. Whether you’re a student, considering a career change, or just want to help out.
Students: We support those studying clinical and non clinical roles. Even if you are at school in year 10. Even if feel it’s not obvious eg those on creative arts, photography or film students are welcome too. The NHS needs your help to help communicate better.
Career Changers: Curious about NHS jobs? Discover how it works, explore job options, and brainstorm ways to use your skills in new ways. Your dream job is within reach!
Volunteers: Sometimes you may only have a few hours spare and want create positive change! 🚀✨
How
You have lots of options, whatever works for you.
E-learning: Topics such as different jobs roles in NHS, diabetes, asthma and mental health. You can answer questions and get a certificate.
Face to face: Come to our practice. We also visit schools and colleges to share our experiences and careers. Just sign up to our newsletter.
Volunteer: We can offer you opportunities to work on projects both face to face with supporting our group clinics and online to improve the way the NHS communicates with patients. You can answer surveys and work in small groups to help improve the service the NHS provides. We will provide you with training and you can work with other volunteers and clinicians.
6,300
Signed up for 3 day online event.
700
Attended face to face training.
92%
Felt more confidant in managing their career following attendance.
HIYOS Numbers
We have been delivering NHS Work experience programme for 4 years online and face to face. We now have an e-learning module where you can answer questions and get a certificate.
What are your work experience options?
Education and employment leads to better health.
We’re super excited to have applicants from all walks of life! To make our program extra cool, we’re grouping together those who share similar interests.
We are really passionate about what we do, thus, we want to hear from those who might be finding it a bit tricky to get work experience. For instance, if you’re from ethnic minority backgrounds or if you have disabilities. Your unique perspectives are super important to us!
To sum it up, we want everyone to have the chance.
What we offer
Education and employment leads to better health. We want to give everyone the opportunity to have NHS Work experience.
Live
Join regular events on your favourite social media platform.
- Easy sign up & join on social media.
- Come when you can.
- Ask questions.
E-learning
Access to our app. Includes assessment and games.
- Self paced learning.
- Manager support.
- Project work.
- Certificate
Face to face
Come to us, or we can come to your school.
- Meet clinicians and admin staff.
- Clinical cases.
- Work in groups.
- Planning trips to hospital, university and health tech firms.
Volunteer
Volunteer both online & face to face.
- Build your confidence.
- Get insights, working with staff.
- Online projects and research.
- Support our face to face events.
A bit about us
We are an NHS GP Practice in West London and we have been working on innovation projects for 12 years. Amongst other things, we have delivered our NHS Work Experience programme to over 7,000 people. Online has been delivered in a 3 day webinar series, live on social media and through our online app where you get a certificate after completion of modules. We have delivered face to face work experience at our practice and at Brunel School of Medicine. Education and employment not only improve health, but also promote social mobility. We’d love you to join us!
Read our Evaluations of our projects by Imperial College Health Partners
Evaluation of HIYOS Live 2023 – Imperial College Health Partners
Purpose
Digital engagement pilot led by Hiyos GP to reduce health inequalities by providing online content and a 3‑day work‑experience webinar series (Employment/Education theme) aimed at school students and those exploring NHS careers.
Activity & reach
- Five 3‑day webinar programmes (Jul 2022–May 2023).
- 3,054 sign‑ups; ~1,547 maximum attendees.
- Geographic reach: ~40% NW London, additional sign‑ups across London, Birmingham, Manchester.
- Demographics: ~82% female sign‑ups; ~50% under 18; sign‑ups over‑represented in more deprived IMD deciles (1–5).
- Diverse participants: post‑event surveys show ~83% non‑White; ~37% non‑English first language.
Participant feedback & learning
- High satisfaction: ~70% rated programme “very good,” remainder “good.”
- Reported strengths: engaging hosts, personal clinician stories, insight into diverse NHS roles.
- Suggested improvements: reduce content density, split into shorter sessions, provide follow‑up resources.
“Range of fields that we were able to all get to know was extremely insightful and helpful, was also fascinating even if that was not the field I was initially interested in and helped enhance my knowledge of healthcare as a whole, further than just the typical ‘doctor”
“The programme has been such a positive experience I’ve learnt so much I can take away and use to benefit me.”
“A lot of things about [health and care] qualifications you can find on the internet, but people want personal stories, daily lives. People are really engaged when clinicians and admin staff talk about something specific – e.g. healthcare assistant talking about ECGs, or someone talking about immunization.”
Impact on careers & confidence
- Confidence: 92% agreed/strongly agreed they felt more confident managing their career after the sessions.
- Motivation: 36% said the programme was their main motivation to consider an NHS career; ~40% planned to take steps shortly.
- Follow‑up actions (recall survey, n=57): many researched roles, updated CVs; 19 applied for internships/work experience.
What worked & sustainability
- Enablers: iterative redesign to fit school timetables, school partnerships and ambassadors, short engaging sessions, staff ownership, use of practice networks.
- Challenges: scaling to other practices, balancing content for diverse cohorts, participant gender imbalance, live delivery resource intensity.
- Sustainability approach: streamline templates, incorporate asynchronous content, focus future topics (mental health, asthma, diabetes, sexual health).
“Well the work experience allowed for further [insight] to many of the career opportunities available in the NHS. One or two of the roles discussed caught my attention so I further researched into it, to find out a bit more.”
Evaluation approach and limitations
- Methods: sign‑up, post‑workshop and recall surveys; stakeholder interviews. Data largely anonymised.
- Limitations: before‑and‑after design without a control group; could not link sign‑ups to attendances or individual outcomes; iteration caused early data inconsistencies.
Conclusions
- Hiyos Live Channel successfully engaged large, diverse audiences—particularly from deprived areas—and produced high satisfaction, greater career confidence, and concrete follow‑up actions for many participants.
- The model is promising but resource‑intensive; sustainability depends on streamlining delivery, blending live and asynchronous formats, and securing ongoing staff time/resources.
- Further evaluation with linked participant data and longer follow‑up is needed to measure long‑term career and health‑equity outcomes.
“It was very good because I got to speak to different health professionals.”
“I received real insight on the day-to-day experiences of GP doctors.”
“Lots of good speakers from many different areas of medicine.”
“The whole programme had very communicative approach. The video and audio combined explanation really made me feel connected with what was being said. The host were so supportively answering the questions and it was overall a good experience.”
Evaluation of HIYOS HELPERS 2021 – Imperial College Health Partners
Hiyos Helpers is a volunteering project developed by Hiyos, with the initial aim of improving digital inclusion of patients struggling to access online services.
The main drive to start the project came from patients who wanted to help the practice and the community get through the pandemic. This model therefore has patients from the practice both as volunteers and as the beneficiaries of volunteer services. With support from the ICS, Hiyos set up induction and training packs and recruited a group of volunteers that have participated in different activities in September 2020. In this time, Hiyos Helpers have supported the practice on 3 main types of activities: calling patients to offer support with digital services; collaborating with staff on innovation labs established by Hiyos; and volunteering at Covid vaccination clinics.
53 volunteers signed up to the programme. The model uses practice patients as both volunteers and beneficiaries, creating strong ties and a sense of team. Feedback is positive: 80% of surveyed patients would recommend the service, volunteers report increased purpose and interest in NHS careers, and staff motivation has improved.
Although resource‑intensive to start, the project has delivered an estimated return of 2–10 volunteer hours for every staff hour invested. The volunteer cohort is diverse, with a majority from ethnic minority backgrounds.
How it was done
-
Hiyos Helpers – NHS volunteering
Read more: Hiyos Helpers – NHS volunteering -
01 NHS Volunteer Recruitment
Read more: 01 NHS Volunteer Recruitment -
02 NHS Volunteer Checklist
Read more: 02 NHS Volunteer Checklist -
03 NHS Volunteer Going Live
Read more: 03 NHS Volunteer Going Live
Results of evaluation
An independant evaluation by Imperial College Health Partners supported by NHS North West London ICB was carried out in January 2021 and May 2021. The results show that patients enjoyed the experience and it improved both their confidence and interest in working in the NHS.
“I really enjoyed the contact, and older people in particular – making them safe and bringing them to the right place”
Hiyos Helper
“I found it a very good induction process: the way the programme was split out was well described and articulated; we had a call to introduce everyone, [where it felt like] staff were genuinely trying to help the clinic; I felt welcomed, supported, and had all info needed”
Hiyos Helper
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