Story originally posted on 24 April 2009.

Caroline Flint, Minister for Europe, visited an innovative scheme run by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust to see how it is helping local people find work within the city. The MP met trainees taking part in two programmes run by the Learning Hub which was opened in September 2008 on the site of the new super hospital to support its agenda to provide employment in the local community. Ms Flint said: "It's a fantastic facility showing what kind of jobs and possibilities there are in the NHS. It's also great to see a hospital making a connection with the community - and not just through its patients."

Ms Flint was welcomed to the Learning Hub by UHB chairman Sir Albert Bore and shown round the facility by UHB Head of Regeneration David Taylor. The Minister sat down with a group of trainees on the first day of their six-week programme.

Gerard Keane, aged 47, from Bartley Green, told her he had been working for 21 years, the past 14 for an engineering company in the Jewellery Quarter, before being made redundant. "We just want a job and the future for us here in Birmingham is the new hospital," he said. "There's nothing bigger - what could be more positive than being part of that?"

Christopher Boyce, who is in his late 40s and registered disabled, has been studying and undertaken vocational work since he was forced to give up his own business. "It's time for me to get on my bike and find work," he told Ms Flint. "We need more opportunities like this one." The Minister pledged that the European Community would back the region financially in trying to get more people into work. "There's £700m that has already come into the this area plus money from government and local authorities, and the private sector. There will be more money in the next few years from Europe. The European recovery package will help to identify skills and job opportunities down the road."

The Hub covers not only jobs in health and social care but also construction jobs connected to Balfour Beatty, the builder of the new hospital, and its supply chain. It is home to two vocational training programmes - ACTIVATE and Building Health. It is also a focal point for promoting UHB's relationships with local schools and communities.

The Hub is expected to help some 5,000 unemployed people over the next three years. This commitment was cemented in February 2008 when UHB became one of the first Trusts in Birmingham to sign a Local Employment Partnership with JobCentre Plus.