National Apprenticeship Week 2024 – Lillie’s Apprenticeship Journey

Growing our own talented workforce

This week is National Apprenticeship Week.

From 5-11 February, we’ll be celebrating apprenticeships at NCH&C.

An apprenticeship is a great way to earn while you learn and gain a valuable qualification to help you progress your career to the next level. At NCH&C, we rely on apprenticeships (and our apprentices) to ensure we have the right staff to deliver excellent care to our patients.

This week, applications opened for several of our popular apprenticeships. NCH&C colleagues can currently apply for their Nursing Degree Apprenticeship, or for a range of apprenticeships in the Allied Health Professions, including Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, and Podiatry.

We’re also trying something new this National Apprenticeship Week: a webinar for managers, all about apprenticeships. NCH&C is proud to have a high rate of apprentices complete their course, thanks to the hard work and care of the teams that support them. By equipping all our managers with the information and resources they need, we’re helping to make sure our apprentices are set up for success.

There is no upper age limit on completing an apprenticeship, and they can be completed at any stage in your career. NCH&C is lucky enough to have amazing apprentices from all stages of life, across all bands, in a range of clinical and non-clinical disciplines. To find out more about doing an apprenticeship at NCH&C, visit our apprenticeships webpage. 

Lillie’s apprenticeship journey

“The reason to why I wanted to do an apprenticeship was because I wanted to earn money whilst I was learning. I thought that this was more beneficial to me than going to university. At the end of my course, I will gain a qualification that will help me with jobs in my future.

“I am weighing up two different career paths after my apprenticeship, but they both involve me staying within NCH&C. I am trying to decide if I want to stay in the administrative side at NCH&C or if I would like to go into the more clinical side of things – such as a Healthcare Assistant.

“During my apprenticeship, I have had lots of shadowing opportunity with other administrative roles, such as the main reception at the Community Hospital in Norwich, which I very much enjoyed. I also, shadowed an inpatient reception for a day, which I found the most interesting. This was because I got to have patient contact and meet the families that were coming to visit the patients. If I were to stay within the admin team, I would like to be a Ward Clerk or Reception on an Inpatient Ward.”

Thank you to Lillie for sharing her apprenticeship story.

To find out more about apprenticeships at NCH&C, contact careerdevelopment@nchc.nhs.uk