Project Search intern wows at Trust board
A personal tale of how a young man’s life was transformed by the chance to learn and work in our hospitals became the highlight of the latest Trust board meeting.
Saeedul Haque, 20, is a passionate advocate for the Project Search programme that offers skills and job training to young people with autism or learning disabilities.
The MDT coordinator for the vascular surgery team at The Royal London hospital is proof the scheme works - because he has come through it with flying colours.
Non-executive directors praised his confident performance in delivering the staff story slot to the January board.
Jacqui Smith, our chair in common, thanked him, saying:
“You have an enormously impressive and encouraging story to tell.”
Saeedul left Seven King’s School in Ilford four years ago to join Project Search as an intern. He did stints in endoscopy, as a receptionist and scheduler, before working with Michael Moeller, associate director of nursing, on patient experience. He made such progress that before the 12-month ended he had obtained a Bank role back in endoscopy, and is now employed on our permanent staff.
He said:
“Before I started I didn’t know how to communicate with other people or use public transport. This changed my life. A few weeks ago I went back to my secondary school to talk about what the programme has done for me. I am so proud of myself, I never thought I could be working in a hospital, I thought I’d be working on the streets as a dustbinman.”
Saeedul’s mission was to persuade the board to back a further expansion of Project Search as part of our community role as an anchor institution in east London.
It run successfully out of Whipps Cross hospital for ten years and recently took its first intake of interns at St Bartholomew’s hospital. Over 70% of participants go on to find work, many of them in our hospitals.
Saeedul said:
"I want to make all managers aware of what this programme can do for young people. Future interns will be very lucky. It has given me so many opportunities, and hopefully they will have the same chance.”
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Want to hear more about Project Search? Contact Dr Vivienne Monk, deputy head of quality and efficiency at St Bartholomew’s and business liaison for Project Search.