GOSH Young Visitors Programme

Great Ormond Street Hospital's Main Entrance decorated with sunflowers.

The GOSH Young Visitors Programme is an initiative to offer short placements in the different clinical areas of GOSH to students thinking of applying for medicine at university.

This programme is suitable for students aged 16-19 years (ideally sixth form students post GCSE) and runs throughout the year, offering 1-to-4-day placements in the speciality of the student’s choice, dependent upon availability of places and supervising staff.  

The purpose of the programme is to give an idea of what it is like to work in the NHS by shadowing clinical and nursing staff; this is a type of work experience although there is no hands-on work. Students are always supervised during this placement.

Choosing your placement area

Think carefully about where you wish to be placed, should you wish to apply.  GOSH provides highly specialised work that would not provide a typical experience for all students. It might be of greater use and relevance to attain a placement in another hospital that provides general care to patients. In addition, as we are a tertiary referral centre there are very many complex and acutely unwell children in GOSH and some students may find this distressing.

In all cases we are looking for evidence of your passion and knowledge of the area. Please ensure that your application is clear and well presented. Try and think of specific examples to demonstrate your understanding of and interest in the placement. Take the time to research the area of GOSH you are applying to work in. This will help you to get the most out of your time with us and demonstrate your passion and commitment. Once we have received your application, it will be assessed before being passed to the department to check availability of space and a suitable supervisor.

Once you have got your placement, try to make the most of it, even if some aspects of it surprise you. Please always follow the Trust Health & Safety procedures – these will be explained to you as part of your local induction as well as the instructions of your supervisor.

Please note applications will not be accepted or processed outside these timeframes.  Should you have any questions, please contact young.visitors@gosh.nhs.uk.

Timeline
Placements From Placements To Applications Open Applications Close Notification of Decision
3-Apr-23 14-Apr-23 20-Feb-23 03-Mar-23 17-Mar-23
24-Jul-23 01-Sep-23 12-Jun-23 23-Jun-23 14-Jul-23
23-Oct-23 27-Oct-23 11-Sep-23 22-Sep-23 06-Oct-23
TBC TBC TBC TBC TBC

About GOSH

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH) is an international centre of excellence in child healthcare. GOSH is an acute specialist paediatric hospital with a mission to provide world-class care to children and young people with rare, complex, and difficult-to-treat conditions.

Together with our research partner, the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, we form the UK’s only academic Biomedical Research Centre specialising in paediatrics.

Since its formation in 1852, the hospital has been dedicated to children’s healthcare and to finding new and better ways to treat childhood illnesses.

Great Ormond Street Hospital receives nearly 300,000 patient visits (inpatient admissions or outpatient appointments) every year (figures from 2016/17).

Most of the children we care for are referred from other hospitals throughout the UK and overseas. There are 60 nationally recognised clinical specialities at GOSH; the UK's widest range of specialist health services for children on one site. More than half of our patients come from outside London and GOSH is the largest paediatric centre in the UK for services including paediatric intensive care and cardiac surgery.

Through carrying out research with the Institute of Child Health, University of London, and international partners, GOSH has developed several new clinical treatments and techniques that are used around the world.

The UK’s only academic Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) specialising in paediatrics is a collaboration between GOSH and UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. We are a member of University College London (UCL) Partners, joining UCL with several other hospitals – an alliance for world-class research benefitting patients. In partnership with six other NHS trusts, we are the lead provider for North Thames Genomics Medicine Centre, part of the national 100,000 Genomes Project.

GOSH offers a wide prospectus of learning to all staff groups. Together with London South Bank University, we train the largest number of paediatric nurses in the UK. We also play a leading role in training paediatric doctors and other health professionals.