An TikTok star who was born in East Lancashire visited Royal Blackburn Hospital earlier this month to celebrate the work of young NHS staff.
Max Balegde, from Darwen, visited the hospital last Friday (December 9) to celebrate a partnership between East Lancashire Hospitals Trust (ELHT) and the Prince’s Trust.
Max, who has more than three million followers on TikTok, also visited the hospital’s ELHT&Me hub, the official charity of ELHT, and advertised some of the clothing and accessories for sale there.
ELHT has been working with the Prince's Trust since 2017, offering work experience and skills development to young people through its Get Into Hospital Services programme.
More than 100 young people have now completed a work placement, giving them valuable hands-on experience, and 86 per cent have gone on to secure further paid work with the hospital.
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At the event the latest cohort shared their experiences and explained how the work placement had helped them. They were then presented with a certificate by Max.
Those who have completed the latest Get Into Hospital Services programme included Oksana Darahan who fled to the UK from Ukraine to escape the war.
She said: “A year ago I was living in Ukraine, starting at university. During the war I needed to quickly evacuate.
“After coming to the UK I started searching for a job and I was interested in working for NHS.”
She completed a placement with the finance team and is now joining ELHT as a volunteer.
Hassan Hussain was made redundant in 2020 as a result of the pandemic but through the Get Into Hospital Services programme, completed a placement working as a Patient Services Assistant and has since been offered a role at ELHT.
He said: “Being on the work programme every day has helped give me a purpose. I feel like I have been helping my community.
“I am proud to be contributing and helping ensure patients are treated effectively. I can’t wait to see where this will lead.”
The partnership with the hospital is part of the Prince’s Trust’s efforts to help young people overcome challenges and achieve their potential.
The placements are open to anyone aged 18-30 who is not in education, employment or training and who is interested in a career with the NHS.
They are given a four week placement within clinical or non-clinical departments, are assigned a mentor and given support with activity such as CV writing and interview skills.
Gillian Cairns, education and workforce lead at ELHT, said: “We are giving young people an opportunity to come into employment and in some cases literally turn their lives around.
“When people think of the NHS they think of clinical roles but we would be unable to provide high quality care unless we had other roles supporting us.
“We are able to offer young people placements within these support areas. Our first programme was in 2017 and it was really successful. So much so that managers are now coming to us asking if they can have more.”
Max, who recently launched a YouTube channel, also filmed some promotional videos for ELHT&Me’s social media channels.
In one video he said: “I am here in Blackburn Hospital where I was born. I am here for the Prince’s Trust ELHT ceremony.
“It was very emotional, really lovely. I’ve just been introduced to this lovely charity called ELHT&Me that you can find as soon as you walk into the hospital.
“They do so many amazing things, sell so many amazing products. Click on their profile to check them out you will not regret it.”
Anyone interested in the Get Into Hospital Services programme should email OutreachLancs@princes-trust.org.uk
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