Young adults shadow staff at west London care home as part of The Prince’s Trust work programme

A group of young adults have spent time shadowing staff at a west London care home, as part of a programme with The Prince’s Trust – the UK’s leading youth charity.

As part of the Barclays Connect with Work Programme – delivered with Bupa and The Prince’s Trust – seven people completed a three-week traineeship at Bupa’s The Kensington care home in Ladbroke Road, Notting Hill.

While there, they completed a three-day induction, plus training and shadowing colleagues engaged in catering, maintenance, housekeeping and gardening.

As well as helping the group learn a range of practical skills, the programme also played a vital role in increasing their confidence and motivation.

The home was so impressed by the young people that it has already been able to offer roles to four of them in care, maintenance and hospitality.

Adam Tallis, general manager for Bupa’s The Kensington, said: “It’s been wonderful to welcome these bright young minds to the home, and help them understand the world of care and our responsibilities in caring for vulnerable adults.

“As the programme showed, the roles are so varied – there really is something for everyone.

“The team exceeded all our expectations and proved themselves as an exceptionally valuable source of support.

“I’m delighted that we’ve been able to offer some of them roles as a result, and would wholly recommend that other care homes consider getting involved.”

One person taking part in the programme was 23-year-old Susanna Bannister, who has since been offered a role within the home’s care team, as an activities co-ordinator.

She said: “This experience taught me how to view residents and how living in a care home isn’t what society makes it out to be.

“I have learnt how we can give dignity, care and compassion to the residents. I really enjoyed my time with Bupa, it taught me about how each role and person is an important part of the care home.

The role in activities was my favourite and I am so happy to have been offered a role in activities at the Kensington home.”

The Prince’s Trust supports 11 to 30 year-olds who face difficulties in finding work, or those who may be struggling in education.

Since its inception in 1976, the charity has helped 870,000 young people and aims to support a further one million within the next 10 years.

James Mullarkey, operations executive at the trust, said: “The young people we work with have so much potential but often just need some support to find a way into work.

“As a charity, our work is only made possible thanks to our supporters and the companies like Barclays and Bupa who work with us.

“We’re always on the look out for more partners, so do get in touch if you feel you’d be able to support.”

The team at the care home are expecting to support more young people later this autumn, and will continue to keep those who took part in mind for any relevant roles available at the home.

Bupa will also be rolling the programme out to a number of other homes across the UK in the months ahead.