Background The hospice receives numerous requests for work experience from school attenders aged 16–18 but has previously been unable to respond, primarily due to concerns around patient confidentiality, suitability of the hospice environment and workforce capacity to support the students. We recognise the benefits in welcoming young people into the hospice, the wide variety of careers represented by the team and the opportunity to engage young people in supported thinking about death, dying and palliative care.

Aims To offer a structured multi-disciplinary career discovery experience to school attenders aged 16–18 hosted at the hospice.

Methods We designed a two-day programme that was highly interactive and included clinical skills sessions, practical demonstrations and contact with a wide variety of professionals based at the hospice. Students had the opportunity to learn about the aims of holistic palliative care and how different teams are involved in its delivery as well as considering wider topics such as bereavement and grief in the context of acknowledging their own emotional well-being. We advertised on social media and via pre-existing contacts with schools previously established by the community engagement team.

Results We received applications from ten schools and accepted ten students of which eight attended. Feedback from the day was extremely positive with all students scoring the overall experience 9 or 10/10. Several students reported interest in careers they hadn’t previously been aware of and one student went on to complete an extended project (EPQ) on palliative care.

Several schools have since contacted us to ask if we are running the course again this year.

Conclusion Supported multi-disciplinary career discovery days proved a popular and engaging way to meet the requests for work experience from school students and highlight the variety of hospice careers, broach difficult topics in a supported environment and foster links with local schools.