With the NHS crying out for skilled staff, it’s time to get behind proposals for expanded professional apprenticeships in the sector, argues Nichola Hay of BPP.
The proposal to have one out of six NHS clinicians trained through apprenticeships over the next five years, unveiled in the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan, resulted in sharp criticism from certain segments of the health profession and the media, with accusations that the government’s plans would “put patients at risk” and devalue the UK degree system.
This dismissive and close-minded attitude towards professional apprenticeships – which have been widely adopted in many industries over the last decade, including law, financial services, and technology – reveals an outdated perspective in health which overlooks the potential of these schemes to support with the critical staffing issues currently crippling the NHS.
In fact, with 8,500 unfilled medical vacancies and a wider 124,000 vacancies across NHS England as a whole last year, the real threat to quality of care is a health profession resistant towards creating new entry routes into professional roles or creating more opportunities for existing staff to upskill themselves into new roles within the health service.
We must now dispel unhelpful attitudes towards apprenticeships and work to break down institutional or cultural barriers to the government’s targets.
Boosting staff intake and diversity
The core of the government’s proposal is to create alternative routes into professional roles in the health service to increase the number of doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives, and other professionals supporting patients. Given the costs of the traditional pathways into health, it’s unsurprising that a new approach to training has become necessary to boost intake and address diversity issues.
NHS workforce plan
Nurses leaving the profession earlier than planned
Apprenticeships offer a practical pathway for individuals from all backgrounds to enter the sector, bringing fresh new perspectives and diverse skill sets. Limiting the pool of potential professionals only perpetuates workforce shortages and exacerbates present diversity issues.
However, maintaining standards of care can and should remain at the heart of our health education and training system. For instance, any doctor doing a medical apprenticeship will still have to pass the same GMC exams as graduates.
Instead, by widening opportunities for people from all backgrounds and in underserved geographical areas to join the NHS workforce, apprenticeships can be a critical lever to fill vacancies and create a more open and inclusive workplace for a broad spectrum of people. At present, less than 20% of the 1.3 million people that work in the health service regard themselves as being from an ethnic minority background. However, in a recent survey of NHS Trusts, BPP revealed that 60% believed apprenticeships had helped increase diversity, 63% thought they had helped boost equality in the workplace, and 71% mentioned their role in increasing inclusivity.
Ensuring staff retention
Professional apprenticeships offer more than just a solution for boosting intake numbers; they also hold the key to retaining and nurturing the existing NHS workforce, pre-emptively addressing the risk of future vacancies. As the era of “forever career” fades quickly, especially among younger generations, people increasingly seek greater flexibility and growth opportunities in their professional lives. The NHS must acknowledge and adapt to this shifting paradigm.
Apprenticeships allow ambitious individuals to pursue promotions, explore different roles, and expand their skill sets. Additionally, the earn-while-you-learn component of apprenticeships offers a far better model for those who cannot afford to take time out from full-time employment to retrain. By creating avenues for retraining through apprenticeships, the NHS can demonstrate a firm commitment to supporting its employees throughout their careers.
This approach would help bolster staff retention and foster a culture of continuous learning and upward mobility critical to the NHS’s long-term success and growth.
Embracing professional apprenticeship schemes could be the silver bullet that aligns the aspirations of the workforce with the evolving needs of the NHS, ensuring a dynamic, adaptable, and motivated workforce ready to tackle the challenges of the future head-on.
Upskilling for the future
While the deployment of robot doctors might still be in the distant future, the potential of technology and artificial intelligence to reshape our health services is a real and present opportunity. Unveiling the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan, health secretary Steve Barclay accepted that AI had the potential to be a catalyst for enhancing NHS productivity, radically transforming clinical and non-clinical areas of health care.
By creating avenues for retraining through apprenticeships, the NHS can demonstrate a firm commitment to supporting its employees throughout their careers.
Yet a tool is only as good as the team using it, and to deliver this technological revolution, the NHS will need to ensure its staff are fully equipped with the right skills to take advantage of new technology.
Apprenticeships provide a structured framework for NHS staff to learn and acquire these technical skills, whether mastering electronic health records, understanding medical imaging software, or implementing digital health solutions. By investing in professional apprenticeships, the NHS ensures that its workforce remains adaptable, competent, and ready to harness the power of technology to improve patient outcomes.
Missing piece of the puzzle
Professional apprenticeships are not just the missing puzzle piece for the NHS; they’re like a multi-purpose tool — with their ability to help address workforce shortages, promote diversity, support career professions, and upskill staff with the latest tech skills. They can transform the NHS into a powerhouse of innovation and high-quality, patient-centred care if designed and implemented correctly.
To have any hope of celebrating the NHS’s 175th anniversary down the line, it’s time to ditch outdated notions on the so-called “correct” pathway into health care and embrace the power of apprenticeships. BPP’s research indicates that the sector is increasingly aware of the potential of apprenticeships – NHS Trusts now use a greater variety of apprenticeships standards than ever before, and the number of standards used in NHS increased from 86 in 2018 to 196 in 2022.
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