NHS Apprenticeships Innovative Technology for Apprentices A guide by Smart Apprentices | www.smartapprentices.com - HubSpot

Innovative Technology for Apprentices

          NHS Apprenticeships
A guide by Smart Apprentices | www.smartapprentices.com

1,400,000
employees currently work within the NHS.

What is the NHS?
Launched in 1948, the NHS was created to provide good healthcare to all, regardless of
wealth and is paid for by using money from taxation. With the exception of some charges,
such as prescriptions, optical and dental services, the NHS is free to use by all UK
residents.

The NHS deals with over 1 million patients every 36 hours and covers everything from
antenatal screenings to treatments for long-term conditions, transplants, emergency care
and end-of-life care.

What are NHS apprenticeships?
NHS Apprenticeships are a way to get into the world of healthcare employment without
going through university. They are available to anyone over the age of 16 and allow you
to earn while you learn, working on the job in a healthcare facility such as hospital or
healthcare centre.

As one of the largest employers in the UK, the NHS have a large levy pot available to
them to fund apprentices. 95% of NHS Trusts pay the levy, with more than half (51%)
expected to spend the majority of their levy funds within the first year.

Now is a great time to think about joining the NHS as an apprentice. The levy has opened
up healthcare apprenticeships to people from all backgrounds, who might have avoided
going to university due to the fees, but now have the opportunity to choose this career.

The NHS is currently creating 100,000 apprenticeships - almost 7 times the current
number across the country by 2020. From September 2018, a further 9 universities will
offer nursing apprenticeships following a national funding announcement.

The group of universities have been given £4.9m by Higher Education Funding Council for
England to devise the employer based training programmes over the year.

The universities that will use the money to develop registered nurse degree
apprenticeships with employers in 2018 are:

  Coventry University

  Keele University

  Leeds Trinity University

  University of Cumbria

  The University of Suffolk

  Southampton Solent University

Sheffield Hallam University, Middlesex University and Birmingham City University will
also develop forms of nursing apprenticeships.

What apprenticeships are available?
NHS Apprenticeships are available at various levels in a variety of areas.

  Intermediate | equivalent to 5 GCSEs A* - C

  Advanced | equivalent to two A-Levels

  Higher | equivalent to a foundation degree and above

  Degree | equivalent to a full bachelor’s or master’s degree

Entry level requirements vary dependant on your choice of apprenticeship and level but
it’s worth knowing that the NHS will also look for apprentices who share the NHS core
values and demonstrate a caring nature.

Some of the apprenticeships on offer from the NHS include:

  Perioperative Support

  Maternity and Paediatric
  Nursing

  Dental Nursing

  Informatics

  Healthcare Assistant

  Health and Social Care

  Pharmacy Services

This is by no means the only apprenticeships on offer within the NHS and a full list of
vacancies can be found here: https://www.nhsjobs.com/job_list/Apprenticeships/s10/
Apprenticeships/d819
How will the degree-level nursing apprenticeships coming in September 2018 help?
  They’ll help to tackle the short staffing crisis currently held by the NHS

  They’ll allow students from all backgrounds to have the chance to become a nurse

  The NHS can save money on uni fees by using their levy funds for off-the-job training

The NHS is a rapidly             The NHS helps              The NHS is a fast
 growing industry               people everyday            paced environment

                   The NHS just               Every day working
                celebrated its 70th             for the NHS is
                    anniversary                    different

 You’ll feel a sense                                        Your shift pattern
 of reward helping               Working for the            and working hours
       people                    NHS is selfless                 will vary

                 You’ll get on the            You’ll get support
                  job experience                from industry
                   from day one                 professionals

How can an e-portfolio help apprentices in the healthcare sector?
The NHS is improving the way it operates and by 2020 they aim to go completely
paperless, so why not make their apprenticeship delivery paperless too? An e-portfolio
is a cloud-based software that allows training providers and colleges to take their
apprenticeship delivery completely online - the perfect solution for the NHS.

Smart Assessor has a variety of features that are great for apprentices in the healthcare
sector and that can help to improve the learner journey.

Eliminate Paperwork
Doctors and nurses should be spending time with their patients - caring and supporting
them not filling in countless forms and lengthy documents. Smart Assessor comes with
pre-populated forms and resources that can cut down learner’s time filling in duplicate
details numerous times - allowing learners to dedicate extra time to caring!

Remote Working
A lot of hospitals and healthcare centres won’t necessarily have WiFi which isn’t ideal
if you’ve got work you need to be uploading on the ward. Smart Assessor’s offline app
allows learners to use the system without an internet connection and then sync their
work once they have available WiFi.

Data Protection
Smart Assessor is a cloud based system, which means all the data synced to the
e-portfolio is in a secure place. Users don’t have to worry about paperwork with personal
information going missing.

Track Progress
Paper based portfolios make it hard for employers and learners to see how far they are
into their apprenticeship and how well they are doing at that stage. With Smart Assessor
progress bars, learners, assessors and employers can track their apprentices’ progress -
how long they have left, how much work they have completed and whether they are on
or off track.

Not only does this motivate learners but also allows for early intervention from employers
and assessors should they need to offer further assistance to their learners.

Off The Job Calculator
The new employer standards mean that learners must now complete 20% off-the-job
training during their apprenticeship. Smart Assessor calculates this automatically for
users in an easy to view widget on their dashboard. Learners can then link evidence
they’ve used for their apprenticeship to count towards off-the-job training.

“lifeblood
   Nurses are the
            of our
    NHS, but the
 routes to a nursing
  degree currently
  shut out some of
  the most caring,
compassionate staff     “
   in our country.
    Jeremy Hunt, 2016