WHAN (the Working in Health Access Network) aims to do two things: - to raise awareness of study
and a career in the health professions and, secondly, to do so in Scottish schools which have a
lower-than-average transfer of pupils to higher education or are in rural/island locations where recruitment
to health services is a priority. So, we would like to assist in recruiting the health workers of the future
and we would like to advertise the possibility of a healthcare career to pupils from communities and social
backgrounds who would not, generally, consider such a professional future.

WHAN follows on from WHAP (the Working in Health Access Programme) which ran as a pilot
programme – a collaboration of Scotland’s medical schools - from 2003 to 2005. Funded by the Scottish
Funding Council, NES(NHS Education Scotland), the Brightside Trust and the ‘Determined to Succeed’
programme (in Argyll and Bute), WHAP worked in 69 schools, in 18 local authorities and with over 2,500
pupils. The success of the programme led to WHAN, which will run from 2006 to 2009 with funding from
the Scottish Funding Council, the Diversity Task Force of the Scottish Executive, Health Department,
the West of Scotland and the Fife and Tayside Regional Access Forums and a number of local authorities.
WHAN is a collaboration of higher and further education institutions with the intention of providing
information and awareness on an even greater range of healthcare professions and possible healthcare
study.