Samantha Misselbrook, a Widening Participation Advisor from our Apprenticeship team, shares a blog highlighting how our Trust marked National Apprenticeship Week and explains some of the opportunities available to our staff and communities:

National Apprenticeship Week is an opportunity for us to celebrate the apprenticeship community, promote the benefits of apprenticeships and showcase the resilience of apprentices, especially during the pandemic.

In support of this, we held information sessions, an interview with some of our apprentices and a drop-in session for any apprenticeship related questions anyone had. The response we have received following these events has been amazing and we are overwhelmed with how many people are excited and want to get involved.

An Apprenticeship is ‘on the job’ training. Starting from Level 2 (GCSE) up to Level 7 (Masters) you can train alongside your working role and earn a qualification, fully funded via the Apprenticeship Levy.

It is an opportunity to complete a course relevant to your job role, that will teach you new skills to help excel and progress with your career. They are also a huge benefit for recruiting managers, as they allow the opportunity to ‘grow your own’ valuable member of the team.

Our Trust has many amazing staff who started their careers as NHS Apprentices, and we would encourage all managers to give the opportunity to our local community by offering an apprenticeship in their Band 2 or Band 3 vacancies.

If you were able to attend our events last week, you learned how many exciting apprenticeship standards there are available to the NHS. We have various opportunities coming up, available at all levels and throughout the year.

If you are unsure of what is available, what you would like to do, or if you can do a particular apprenticeship standard, we are always here to answer these questions for you! Contact us at bhrut.apprenticeships@nhs.net or call us on 01708 435 000 Ext. 3859/2098.

If you would like to see us again to discuss Apprenticeships, please come and join us for a cup of tea and a sweet treat at our next Apprenticeship Drop-in session. This will be at King George Hospital on Tuesday 15 March from 12noon to 2pm in the Lecture Theatre in the James Fawcett Education Centre. We look forward to seeing you!