Students are now required to be fully vaccinated before carrying out work experience.
We offer work experience placements at Darent Valley Hospital, in Dartford, and are now able to offer limited placements at Queen Mary's Hospital, in Sidcup.
For work experience placements, please consider which of the following options most closely fits your needs and follow the instructions on how to express an interest. We will not be able to consider applications where you do not fit the criteria or do not follow the correct procedure.
Work experience placements are, in the first instance available to students within the local area. All dates must be cleared with school/college before applying as once booked cannot be rearranged to suit school hours. Once placement has begun we are unable to move you to different departments.
If you are interested in a work experience placement please complete all questions on the online application form remembering to attach your CV and strong supporting statement stating why you would like the placement. Please do not complete this form if you are looking for a placement in Occupational Therapy, the Pathology Laboratory or to shadow a Consultant.
Another option is volunteering, helping to provide valuable support to patients and staff. This involves non-clinical care and other tasks, and is another way of getting an idea of what it is like to work in the health and social care sector.
- Applications for work experience at Darent Valley Hospital will only be accepted via the online form (except shadowing Consultants). Please complete all sections of the form, area of interest is any department you would wish to be placed within the hospital except above where you are advised to apply direct (always give at least one area of interest). Once submitted the form is sent direct to the Work Experience Placement Facilitator. We are unable to accommodate students below the age of 16 at date of placement.
- Placements are for one week, Monday-Friday and are one placement, per student, per year due to the volume of applicants.
- Maternity, Pharmacy and Haemotology Departments do not accept placement.
- All Paediatric placements will run from Tuesday to Thursday only in Paediatric outpatients based in the Children's Resource Centre. There will be no access to wards for work experience students. Requests must be sent for the attention of Dr Suresh Kumar.
Work experience is unpaid and we are unable to offer expenses. Unfortunately, we cannot offer feedback if you are unsuccessful in your application.
Placements available
- Survey patients in the ward to find out what leads to a positive experience
- Analysis of existing data, such as surveys
- Update communications materials such as leaflets or noticeboards & distributing information to new patients
- Reverse mentoring; to help senior colleagues with social media
- General housekeeping; tea making, making beds, general tidying
- Helping patient orientation in the ward
- Shadowing a nurse or healthcare assistant as they take and record a patient’s blood pressure, temperature and heart rate and completing fluid charts under direct supervision
- Observing routine procedures, investigations or minor surgical procedures
- Assisting with meals, preparing over tables, cutting food, encouraging the patient to eat/drink and patient feeding
- Making deliveries to other departments or collections
- Talking to or escorting patients
- Attending team meetings
- Clinical placements (A&E, General Surgery) in a shadowing capacity are only available to students who are 17 years or over and must be requested directly with the Consultant (please see below for a list of consultants who take work experience students). Students are required to write to the Consultant enclosing their CV along with the dates they would like a placement.
- Physiotherapy accepts school students who are considering Physiotherapy as a carrer and those who wish to train at university and need the experience for their application (proof maybe required). Placement within the Physiotherapy environment will give students an insight into General Medicine, Trauma Orthopaedics, Stroke and MSK. Students will be offered 3-days shadowing experience. To find out more and to apply please email dvh.physiotherapy@nhs.net.
- Occupational Therapy offer placements for students applying to university. If you are interested in learning more about a career in Occupational Therapy and are considering applying for a place at University, then you need to submit your application via email to dgn-tr.occupationaltherapy@nhs.net. We would be grateful if you could provide a CV or some further career information supporting your application and answer the following questions:
- Why are you interested in learning more about OT?
- What would you like to gain from time spent in the department?
- Which Universities are you considering applying to?
- Nutrition and Dietetics offer placements for students applying to university. If you are interested in learning more about Nutrition and Dietetics, and are considering applying for a place at university, then you need to submit your work experience request via email to: dgn-tr.dvhdietitians@nhs.net. We would be grateful if you could provide a CV or some further career information supporting your application, and answer the following questions:
- Why are you interested in learning more about Nutrition and Dietetics?
- What would you like to gain in your time spent with the department?
- Which universities/courses are you considering applying for?
- The Radiology Department accept students on a one day placement to assist with their university application.
- The Microbiology Departments only accept students to assist with a university application.
- The Pathology Laboratory only accept graduate students for a minimum of three months. Applications will go directly to the Microbiology Manager.
Contact details when requesting Clinical Placement with Consultants
To request to shadow a consultant, only 2 consultant can be emailed in your preferred specialty, any applicant that emails more than two consultants, will not be considered.
Consultant |
Speciality |
Secretary’s email address |
Sanjeev Madaan |
Urology consultant |
|
Dr H. Srikogan |
Endocrinology consultant
|
|
Dr P. Manghat
|
Consultant chemical Pathology
|
|
Dr A Rastegar
|
Consultant A&E
|
|
Y. El-miedany
|
Rheumatology
|
|
Aminy Raouf
|
Respiratory
|
|
Jacek Adamek
|
General Surgery
|
|
Mr Watson
|
General Surgery |
|
Mr Bhardwaj
|
General Surgery
|
|
Mohsen El-sayeda
|
Obstetrician
|
|
Abhishek Gupta
|
Obstetrician
|
|
Abdul Hasib
|
Paediatric
|
|
Peter Kabunga
|
Cardiology
|
|
Savio d'souza
|
Cardiology |
|
Ian Dickinson
|
Urology consultant |
|
Selwyn D'costa
|
paediatric consultant
|
|
Mr Nastro
|
General Surgery
|
|
Dr Aminy Raouf
|
Respiratory
|
|
Dr Burhan Khan
|
Respiratory
|
|
Dr Majid Mushtaq
|
Respiratory Physician
|
|
Dr Sudhiv lohani
|
Respiratory Physician
|
|
Dr Rekha Bhalla
|
Respiratory Physician
|
|
Mr Vincent Kika |
A&E |
|
Mr S Kuma |
Paediatric |
|
Contact
Work Experience
Placement Facilitator
Darent Valley Hospital
Darenth Wood Road
Dartford
Kent DA2 8DA
Due to the high volume of applications please do not send emails or telephone for updates.