NNUH beats stiff competition and wins national training award for its Apprenticeship Programme

The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH) has been successful in winning a national award for the Best Apprenticeship Programme in the Training Journal Awards.

Since 2010, 81 new apprentices have been taken on across a variety of clinical and non-clinical roles; 39 new staff have completed the educational element of their apprenticeship and have secured permanent posts or gone on to higher education, 41 are still on programme.

NNUH works closely with high schools and colleges across the region promoting NHS careers and offering advice and guidance to their career information staff. This enables local young people to be appointed to apprenticeship posts, benefitting NNUH and its workforce.

Professor Martyn Sloman, one of the judges for this award said: “This category is a new category for these awards and the Norfolk and Norwich was best in class in a very competitive award. We applaud what they are seeking to do and, more importantly, what they are achieving”.

He continued by adding: “We were most impressed with the Trust’s articulation of the business case for apprenticeship which revolves around the goal of reducing the age profile of the workforce and a recognition of the value of growing your own staff. The Trust has strong links to local community including schools and is conscious of the important social and economic position it holds as a major local employer”.

Julia Watling, NNUH Learning and Development Manager, said: “To win such a prestigious national award is a great credit to the Trust. Apprenticeships have transformed the way we recruit and are at the heart of its succession planning allowing the organisation to ‘grow our own’ workforce. This exciting new talent stream helps us to create a highly trained, sustainable workforce offering outstanding patient care.”

NNUH works alongside local education training providers to ensure that new apprentices and existing staff are supported within an apprenticeship plan to enable them to understand the theory behind their roles, and then provide evidence of their practical skills through the NVQ Diploma.

NNUH was shortlisted alongside five well known national organisations; WM Morrison Supermarkets Plc, the Forestry Commission , MITIE FM , Aster Group, and Seddon Construction.

Established in 2006, the purpose of the Training Journal Awards is to promote excellence, best practice and innovation in training, learning and development, across the whole spectrum of industry, commerce and the public sector, and from organisations of all sizes.