Welcome to Imperial College 3

Contents

Welcome to Imperial College 3

Trust Facilities4

About Our Hospitals5

The Workplace & Expectations- PSP7

Confidentially8

Personal Safety and Security8

A Safe and Healthy way to work9

At the End of Your Placement11

Welcome to Imperial College

Welcome to the Learning for Work programme. We hope you enjoy your time with us and find it a useful experience.

You have been allocated a mentor for the duration of your placement and they should be your first point of contact with any queries or advice you may have, particularly about the work you are carrying out.

However if you have a query or concern which your mentor cannot resolve or you would like to discuss an issue with someone outside of your work area then please contact the Work Experience department on 020 3311 7418 or email . If you need to contact us urgently then please contact the HR Reception on 02033111487.

We hope you enjoy your placement.

Work Experience Team

Trust Facilities

Each of our hospital sites has a range of facilities available for staff members. Many of these are open to work experience students to use whilst they are on placement. Each hospital has a variety of shops and cafes/coffee bars, and we have arranged for work experience students to access the following facilities:

Swimming Pool

On the St Mary’s site the swimming pool is based in the Imperial College building and is available at staff rates (currently £3.60).

Internet Café

At the Charing Cross site there are 2 internet cafes in the café on the first floor, and in the restaurant on the 2nd floor.

At the St Mary’s site the internet café is sited next to the staff restaurant on the 2nd Floor of the QEQM building.

Alexander Fleming Museum

At the St Mary’s site the Alexander Fleming Museum offers free personally guided tours which will allow you to find out about the discovery of penicillin, here at St Mary’s, and the development of antibiotics.

Tip: All of these are available if you produce your work experience ID badge.

The Trust also has an excellent training department and some of our placements include essential or optional one day courses. The work experience coordinator can give you information about these options.
Our Trust

The Trust is currently the largest in the UK and has an annual turnover of £800 million, treating more than a million patients a year. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust was formed on 1st October 2007 by the merger of Hammersmith and St Mary’s NHS Trust. Imperial College is an academic health science centre and manages 5 hospitals:

•Charing Cross Hospital

•Hammersmith Hospital

•Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea Hospital

•St Mary's Hospital

•Western Eye Hospital

Below are brief yet informative paragraphs on each hospital and what each of them specialises in.

Charing Cross Hospital

The hospital proper is a 15-storey building, imaginatively built in the shape of a cross. The front entrance is all beech and glass, with a giant circular tropical fish tank in front of the Friends of the Hospital Shop

Charing Cross is a general acute hospitalthat provides a full range of adult clinical specialties.Ithousesthe serious injuries centre for west London, a result of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust's expertise in critical medical care.The hospital is also a key site for the teaching of medical students from Imperial College London.

The hospitalincludes a day-surgery unit calledthe Riverside wing, the world-renowned Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology and the West London Neuroscience Centre. Maggie’s Cancer Centre, the first of its kind in England, opened on the Charing Cross site in 2008.

Hammersmith Hospital

Hammersmith is famous for its research achievements and has a large community of Imperial College London postgraduate medical students and researchers. It is home to the West London Renal and Transplant Centre, two large cancer treatment centres anda specialist cardiac service with a 24/7 primary angioplasty centre. The Clinical Imaging Centre, which opened in June 2007, is the largest in Europe.

The Medical Research Council’s Clinical Sciences Centre is based at the site and works in partnership with the hospital and Imperial College London.

Queen Charlotte’s& Chelsea Hospital

Queen Charlotte’s& Chelsea are world-renowned for its maternity and women’s and children’s services. The hospital is a tertiary referral maternity unit with a nationally renowned Centre for Fetal Care andthe largest neonatal intensive care unit in the country.Ithasa labour ward with two fully equipped operating theatres adjacent tohigh-dependency care facilities.

The hospitalhas excellent and extensive high-risk services and, as a result, cares for many women with complicated pregnancies. The hospital also has a midwife-led birth centre for women with uncomplicated pregnancies who would like a natural childbirth experience.

Queen Charlotte's& ChelseaHospital is home to the West London Gynaecological Cancer Centre.

St Mary’s Hospital

St Mary’s is a general acute hospital that diagnoses and treats a range of adult and paediatric conditions. The Jefferiss wing is an internationally renowned centre of excellence for the diagnosis, treatment and care of people with sexual health problems, including sexually transmitted diseasessuch asHIV and AIDS.

The paediatric service includes a dedicated children’s A&E department and north-west London’s paediatric haematology service.

The hospital has pioneered the use of robotic surgery, including the UK’s first da Vinci robot for keyhole surgery. St Mary’s is in the heart fascinating history, but is also involved in pioneering and innovative developments in modern health care.

• Prince William and Prince Harry were both born at St. Mary’s Hospital the first members of the Royal family to be born in the hospital.
• The Da Vinci Robot, which was featured in the James Bond film ‘Die Another Day’, is a pioneering system, which uses robotic technology to remotely carry out keyhole surgery. It was the first of its kind in UK hospitals.

With an income of 250million, it is one of the largest teaching hospitals in London and continues to be a strong academic research base for selected specialist services, in conjunction with

Western Eye Hospital

Western Eye is dedicated to ophthalmology. It offers the only 24-hour emergency eye care service in west London.

If you would like to find out more information on each hospital please visit

The Workplace

The workplace can be very different to school or college:

• Generally work is not structured (although you may have a programme) and you may not have set breaks or lunch – you need to find out what happens in your area.

• Be aware that planned activities may change – this will test your flexibility

Tip: Flexibility is an essential work skill

• Ask questions – it will make you seem keen and interested. But learn when is not a good time (i.e. in the middle of a crisis or when the department is under pressure).

It is OK to admit if you get something wrong – you are here to learn and learning from your mistakes is something we all do. Use the opportunity to ask someone to show you how to put it right.

Expectations

What we expect from our work experience students

• To be punctual and reliable – call in if you are going to be late or unable to attend
• To be aware that poor attendance can mean a less interesting placement.

• Not to come into work under the influence of drink or drugs

• Not to smoke on Trust premises. Imperial College is a no smoking organisation

What we do not expect is for you to deal with are difficult, rude or abusive people.

•This does not happen often and work experience students are not usually involved.

•But it could happen. If it does, you should:

Excuse yourself and get help from a member of Trust staff.

say something like – “I’m sorry I can’t help you but let me find someone who can”-Make sure you do find someone to help them

Be polite and friendly – whatever the person says to you.

Not take it personally.

It may help, if you are aware that people in hospital may often be anxious or frightened for themselves or their relatives and may behave in a way which is not normal for them. Or their medication or health problems may cause them to behave in a certain way.

Confidentiality

Whilst you are working for the Trust you may see or hear information which is confidential. This may be about Patients, Staff or Trust. You must not disclose this information to anyone, particularly that relating to patients or staff. This forms part of your Honorary Contract.

You can talk about your placement.

So for example you could say:
“Today I saw a patient who had a hernia”; or “Today I entered information into a database about new staff”.

But you cannot talk about personal information, or anything which could identify a patient or member of staff.

You cannot say “Today I saw a patient called John Smith who had a hernia”; or
“Today I entered information into a database about Mary Rose who started work as a nurse”.

If you are unsure please ask your mentor or supervisor.

The Data Protection Act (1988)

The Data Protection Act also renders an individual liable for prosecution in the event of unauthorised disclosure of electronically stored information. A breach of confidence could also result in a civil action for damages. This means that it is illegal to disclose any information which is stored electronically, for example on a computer, without authorisation.

Personal Safety and Security

ID Badges

You will be issued with an ID badge at the start of your placement. You must wear these at all times whilst on Trust premises.

Personal Property

Please take care of your personal property and remember that members of the public have access to large parts of the hospital.

Personal Safety

As a public organization Imperial College hospital sites are open to members of the public. Therefore please take the same precautions that you would take whilst in other public places.

A Safe and Healthy Way to Work

Incidents/Accidents

If you see or hear anything which causes you concern or offence, or if you feel unwell or are involved in an accident at any time please talk to your mentor or the Work experience Co-ordinator on 020 3311 7418 as soon as possible. The Trust has a formal accident reporting procedure and your mentor will give you details should you need them.

Debriefing is a very important part of being an employee in a healthcare setting for anyone who witnesses or is involved in an incident/accident.

Responsibilities

•We take your safety and health very seriously. We have looked at the risks (dangers and hazards) of your placement and minimised them as much as possible. We will inform you of general risks as part of this induction and risks specific to your placement will be included in your placement information sheet.

•However, by law you must take some personal responsibility for listening to and reading the information you are given about your placement, following instructions and asking for help if you are unsure. Particularly when this relates to health and safety matters.

•You have a responsibility to ensure that you work safely and do not cause anyone else to work unsafely.

•You must also report any hazards you notice in your workplace to your manager.

1.Fire

• Fire exits – make sure you are aware of where the fire exits are in any area that you are working in.
• Evacuation – make sure you know what to do if the fire alarm sounds. Do not assume you can follow someone else.
• Assembly point – make sure you know where to meet up with the rest of your department once you have left the building.
• If no-one informs you of these things thenplease ask.

2.Infection Control

• In any workplace hand washing is important. You must ensure that your standards of personal hygiene are very high.
• Whenever you visit a clinical area you must wash your hands plus use alcohol hand gel at the beginning and end of each session, following extensive contact with a patient’s immediate environment, and if you use the toilet facilities. In order to minimise risks of cross infection clothes should be changed daily.

As a hospital you will probably come into contact with a larger than normal number of unwell people. However, you should not be at any great risk of infection than in your normal everyday life. We do not place students in any areas which contain a high risk of infection.

3.Needles

• If you are in a clinical area it is extremely important that you are aware of where you put your hands and what you sit on at all times

• Do not handle needles at any time

• You should only handle other instruments unless you are specifically told to do so.

4.Moving and Handling

• In most cases, work experience students must not move or handle heavy objects.

• This includes heavy boxes (e.g. photocopying), patients, or equipment.

• However, if it is essential to the placement. Some students, over the age of 18, may attend the moving and handling training. Once completed they will be able to move and handle objects according to the training.
• Slips, Trips and Falls

• Look for signs that a floor is slippery

• Look for uneven rugs or mats

• Look for things left on the floor
• Do not leave things for others to fall over

6.Substances

• Do not touch any substances which are marked as hazardous (as shown below) unless you have been trained to do so

• Medicines: you should not handle any drugs or medicines. The only exception to this is for placements in the pharmacy department. Here you must following the instructions and listen to the information you are given.

7.Using Equipment/Machinery

• You must be trained to operate any equipment/machinery which is necessary for your placement.

• If you are asked to operate a piece of equipment/machinery which you are not trained to use, you must ask the person requesting that you use the equipment to show you how to use it.

You must not operate any dangerous machinery.

At the End of Your Placement

References

If you would like a reference from your mentor please discuss this with them.

Certificates

If you complete at least 80% of your placement we will provide you with a certificate of attendance.

Job Opportunities

Our website contains details of all of our current vacancies

You may also find useful information available via the NHS Careers website

Please take some time to read this guide, but remember the most important point:

Please Enjoy Your Placement

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