Sophie overcomes barriers to achieve work with the NHS

Sophie registered with Zebra-Access Specialist Employment Service in August 2023.

Her passion to become a carer stemmed from supporting her Deaf Grandmother, who shared the same language (BSL) and culture, as the rest of her family are all hearing. Unfortunately, her grandmother was diagnosed with dementia. Sophie continued to support her until she passed away.

After a year of grief, Sophie felt ready to find work, and she applied for a few jobs, despite never having a job since leaving school, although she previously enrolled at Walsall college to study Health and Social Care.

One of the job vacancies she was most interested in was bank cover for the NHS in the Jasmine Suite (a Deaf mental health centre in Birmingham), after her friend persuaded her that it’s a good career to pursue. She started applying for bank cover with the NHS last October via their online system Trac, as she wanted a trial as bank cover first, to get a taste of real working life, with a view to later becoming permanent staff. However, the process was longwinded and very difficult at times, with many barriers arising.

Sophie came to see us almost every week for support, and to continue the long and complicated application process that must be fulfilled step by step. There were several phone calls and emails going back and forth throughout that time. Without our support, she wouldn’t have had a chance, simply because of the nature of the role and the process, which involved many steps, including applying for a DBS, health questionnaires, vaccinations and health and ID interviews. All of this, with the added complication of booking the interpreters that were required, and we were passed around trying to find out who was responsible for this provision. Many scheduled meetings didn’t take place because an interpreter was not booked, thus delaying the recruitment process further. On some occasions, we supported her in calling them, only to find they couldn’t find her on the system at all.

With her endurance and determination, we continued this week by week; responding to their every request.

Finally, she was offered an induction on May 20^th, but again, she was let down because no interpreter had been arranged. Then they rescheduled for 3^rd and 4^th of June, and this time, finally, interpreters were provided for her two days of training, which she successfully completed.

She was then required to complete two weeks of E-Learning modules before she could start work, and again there was no interpreter provision for her training, even though she needed further communication support. We had to call and email them repeatedly to chase everything up, as well as trying to chase up her uniform and name badge, another essential requirement for her to be able to work. There were several occasions where Sophie arrived to do the online training, and either no interpreter was provided, or the interpreter had been given the wrong venue and was waiting elsewhere. Eventually, Sophie managed to complete all of the online training, but still had issues with the different log ins required to access the NHS systems – something essential for her to accept bookings.

After months of being passed around various departments, finally someone from IT was able to reset all of her log ins, and she was finally able to attend the hospital to start shadowing the staff and learning on the job.

Sophie’s Specialist Employment Officer, Linda said

“We’re very proud of Sophie for continuing to try, in spite of all the barriers she has experienced, and we’re so happy she has finally been able to achieve her goal of starting work at the hospital as a member of bank staff; with her own uniform and name badge.”

Bob Marsh, Managing Director of Zebra Access who provided Sophie’s support through Linda, added

“In the face of so many barriers, we are exceptionally proud of Sophie for her personal endurance and willpower to achieve her goal of working within the NHS. We wish Sophie all the very best of luck in her future”