05 April 2024
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is delighted to have been awarded Macro Employer of the Year at the Apprenticeship Awards Cymru 2024.
Apprenticeship Awards Cymru rewards individuals, learning providers, and employers who have excelled in contributing to the development of the Welsh Government’s Employability and Apprenticeship Programmes across Wales.
As one of the largest NHS organisations within the UK, we pride ourselves in being a great place to train and work with inclusion, wellbeing and development at the heart of everything we do. This includes the investment in colleagues to support their progression via apprenticeships.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has been supporting apprenticeships for colleagues since 2006 and formally established the Apprenticeship Academy in December 2018. In the last five years, the Health Board has enrolled 864 colleagues onto various apprenticeship programmes.
On the prestigious award win, Emma Bendle, Apprenticeship & Widening Access Co-ordinator said: “This is a fantastic achievement which recognises the great work that has been achieved since we established our Academy in 2018. As a team we have worked in partnership with colleagues across the UHB to upskill our staff and create excellent opportunities for new recruits to kickstart their career in the NHS."
The Health Board is proud to be an organisation where opportunities to develop skills and experience can be explored by everyone.
As we support our apprentices through the right education and training, we are not only building a capable workforce but one that becomes more productive and is focussed on service improvement.
By introducing apprenticeship pathways into our education and training, we are improving accessibility and widening access to sectors of the community where the NHS might have appeared out of reach. Apprenticeships offer an alternative to traditional routes for higher education, and clear progression pathways allow people to succeed in a flexible way that suits them.
Olivia Headley-Grant, a former apprentice within Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “My apprenticeship really helped me build up my confidence and knowledge after leaving school. The experience I gained helped me to secure a permanent position as an administration assistant in the team and my most recent role as an Executive Assistant. I feel I would not be where I am, working with Executives at age 18, if I did not choose to do this apprenticeship.”
As some areas of the Health Service struggle with an aging workforce, the Health Board views apprenticeships as an opportunity to maximise the potential of a younger workforce, whilst engaging with experienced staff to enable them to pass on their skills and experiences to others.
By working in partnership, we have been able to support GPs who have been struggling to attract young people to join their teams. Notable success for our future workforce has also been achieved with apprenticeship pathways from Healthcare Support Worker to Registered Nurse.
Entry level apprentices have provided environments where people can excel in both their qualification and the role. This opportunity to grow the workforce has resulted in an 81% success rate of securing permanent employment at the end of the apprenticeship.
Apprenticeships are available from age 16, which supports those leaving full-time education and can be used to access health related careers without leaving work to attend university. Apprentices are able to ‘earn while they learn’, build a solid career foundation and explore the other opportunities available to them.
People wishing to undertake an apprenticeship within Cardiff and Health Board may find opportunities in the following categories:
Read more about the Health Board’s aims to attract and retain the best people at shapingourfuturewellbeing.com