The Apprenticeships and Career Development team at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) is celebrating the number of apprentices employed by the organisation.
The Government’s Public Sector Apprenticeship Targets outline that public sector bodies with more than 250 members of staff in England, including NHS Trusts, must employ at least 2.3% of their workforce as new apprentice starts each year.
But CNTW’s latest figures show that 3.2% of the Trust’s workforce are employed as apprentices, well above the target set by the Government. The Trust takes on around 70 apprentices each year, and is keen to increase that figure further.
Explaining how the organisation has surpassed the target so successfully, Gayle Hennessey, Centre and Contract Manager at CNTW, said: “Our workforce planning decisions have been made with apprenticeships in mind across the board. We have successfully incorporated apprentices into our workforce at all levels, both as new recruits and by supporting existing staff to consider apprenticeships as part of their career development pathways.
“We provide apprenticeship opportunities in a huge range of subjects, from administration and IT, recruitment, medical staffing, pharmacy, to finance, and so many more. And in April this year we became the first organisation in the region to offer a Registered Nursing Degree Apprenticeship to school-leavers aspiring to become mental health or learning disability nurses. We are very proud of the success of our apprenticeship scheme.”
Apprenticeships provide a way to earn as you learn, no matter what age you are. If you would like to know more about apprenticeships at CNTW, you can find out more on our Apprenticeships webpage, or email [email protected].