Former Student Volunteers on the NHS Frontline

Former Cardinal Newman student Ismat Khan has returned to her placement at Royal Preston Hospital to help care for patients during the Corona Virus outbreak.

Ismat, who studied Biology, Psychology, English Language and an EPQ at Cardinal Newman, is currently studying Diagnostic Radiography at the University of Cumbria. She is amongst 40,000 student healthcare workers, including students nurses, midwives, paramedics, radiographers and more who have signed up to go back to their placements and many of them have gone onto the front line of healthcare for the first time.

Ismat has spent much of her time on chest and abdomen x-rays checking for signs and effects of COVID and said: “When you experience COVID and you see patients suffering with it, that’s when it hits you. Obviously, I was scared, and my parents were both really, really scared. But when I spoke to them, they came round and really understood that I was passionate about it and this was something I really, really wanted to take on.”

In a video piece, featured on BBC national news and online, Ismat is seen in the radiography suite demonstrating equipment and performing a mask-fit test which checks the validity of PPE.

Ismat’s video diary appeared alongside three other student healthcare workers, two student nurses and a dietitian from across the country who all recounted their experiences of returning to placement. Watch the video of Ismat and the other student healthcare workers here >> 

All the students featured have won places on the Council of Deans for Health UK Student Leadership programme, which coaches and develops the healthcare leaders of the future.