MORE than 300 job hunters applied for just 15 available places on a novice healthcare support worker training programme.

Applicants from florists to forensic scientists have applied for the position at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust.

The novice programme gives people with no previous caring experience the chance to learn the basics of nursing care and the clinical skills needed for the job of healthcare support worker.

Training begins with an induction week where novices learn the fundamentals of nursing care including bed bathing, pressure sores, nutrition and feeding, patients’ rights, dignity in death and nursing patients who experience pain.

Entrants are supervised by a registered nurse and are assigned a band three support worker as a “buddy”.

They are also monitored by an assessor while they achieve the required set of clinical skills.

Novices are only placed in clinical areas where there are vacancies to enable the Trust to offer all successful placements a substantive contract at the end of their fixed term contract.

Director of nursing, Denise McMahon, said: “We have been overwhelmed with enquires for the programme and pleasantly surprised by its popularity, and by the quality of the people applying for a place.”

The Dudley Group recruits to the novice programme three times a year; short listing for the current 15 coveted places is about to begin.