Community Wealth Building in University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) is using targeted employment and pre-employment training to solve local problems in the labour market.
Context
- University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust (UHB) is one of the largest teaching hospital trusts in England, treating over 2.2 million people every year and employing 20,000 staff.
- Birmingham has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment in the country. In 2018, 16.6% of the local population lived in a workless household and in 2016, 42.3% of children in Birmingham lived in households classed as in poverty.
Community Wealth Building in UHB
Working with partner organisations to offer pre-employment training
UHB, in partnership with The Prince’s Trust, established a Learning Hub in 2008, which has supported nearly 2,500 local people into employment within the Trust and partner organisations. This purpose-built centre is fully staffed to offer pre-employment advice, training, guidance and direct links to jobs in the NHS to those unemployed local people who are furthest from the labour market.
Targeted preemployment for ‘hard to reach’ individuals
UHB is working with Birmingham City Council to deliver Youth Promise Plus – a city-wide initiative to provide training, support and work opportunities to at least 16,000 young people (aged 15-29) classed as NEET. Together with Birmingham and Solihull NHS trusts, the local hospitals have committed to supporting 850 participants through this programme.
Opening up land and assets for community use
UHB regularly allow local community groups and charities to make use of their buildings and facilities for free, such as allowing charities to host conferences or running a market which is specifically targeted at micro enterprise. They are also looking into how their lecture theatres could be used to screen films for free for the local community and allowing local schools to use space for arts out of hours.
