North East Ambulance Service supports over 200 apprentices kickstart their career in healthcare

North East Ambulance Service supports over 200 apprentices of all ages and career backgrounds to step into their healthcare career across a range of clinical and non-clinical apprenticeship programmes.

In 2023, North East Ambulance Service was ranked in the UK’s top 100 apprenticeship employers for a second time, ranking 65th in the country.

The service covers 3,200 square miles across the North East region and employs more than 3,200 staff, serving a population of 2.7 million people. Every role within the service, plays a part in supporting our communities and delivering high-quality patient care.

North East Ambulance Service has had a highly successful year with currently 89 students currently on the Clinical Care Assistant (CCA) programme with Scheduled Care and 37 completed in the last 12 months.

In the last 12 months, 62 students commenced their education programme with Unscheduled Care to become a Clinical Care Assistant (CCA) and all completed with a Level 3 Diploma in Emergency and Urgent Care with over 60% achieving distinctions.

A further 56 students commenced their training to become an Ambulance Care Assistant (ACA) which is a 13-month apprenticeship, giving the students a Level 3 Certificate in Emergency and Urgent Care once completed.

Apprenticeships are a great way to launch your career or take the first step into healthcare. Apprenticeships with the North East Ambulance Service consist of work-based training programmes, combining on-the-job training with nationally recognised qualifications.

Assistant Director of People Development, Karen Gardner said: “This is a fantastic achievement for our Trust as it highlights the value apprenticeships bring to our service and colleagues.

“We are dedicated to our education programme here at NEAS and are consistently working hard to improve work-based training programmes. We offer apprenticeships at a range of levels and encourage anyone of any age and at any point in their career to join and apprenticeship programme and expand their skillset.

“Apprenticeships also provide students with an alternative route into a career who may not have been able to pursue their goals via more traditional routes. It’s also a brilliant opportunity to merge classroom education with practical learning and in an industry like the emergency services, this is crucial to a person’s development.”

There are currently students enrolled onto 14 different apprenticeship programmes and students can choose from a range of programmes across clinical and non-clinical roles including:

• Advanced Clinical Practice
• Ambulance Support Worker
• Business Admin Level 3
• Chartered Manager
• Customer Service
• Customer Service Practitioner
• Customer Service Specialist
• Cyber Security Technical Professional
• Information Communication Technician
• Learning Mentor
• Operations / Departmental Manager
• Paramedic
• Senior Leader
• Team Leader / Supervisor

Clinical Care Assistant Apprentice Marc said: “Joining the programme as a Clinical Care Assistant is a fantastic starting point to get into the service without having much experience. No shift is the same and all my colleagues are willing to help you and there’s a chance to progress my career as I would love to eventually get onto the paramedic apprenticeship.”

Health advisor, James said: “I have worked in customer service and sales-based roles for all my career and have no relevant qualifications for this field, so I wanted to take this opportunity to enhance my professional development. I find that it has improved my focus while performing certain aspects of my job, improving my customer service skills, and counts towards my professional development.

“Every day is different, I love interacting with the public and feeling that I have made a difference to people's lives.”

Ambulance Care Assistant, Lucy said: “I wanted to join the service as I have a passion for wanting to help and make a difference in people's lives. By undertaking an apprenticeship, it is a great opportunity to learn about the ambulance service.

“With starting on Patient Transport, it has allowed me to develop communication skills with patients and gain experience with moving and handling techniques and driving skills. The apprenticeship allows me to put my learning into practise and allows me to develop a greater skill set which I will utilise to develop my career in NEAS.

“As I am in the early stages of my career, I thoroughly enjoy my role as an Ambulance Care Assistant. In the future, I am looking forward to further develop my skill set and to hopefully progress to become a Clinical Care Assistant (CCA) and maybe a Paramedic.”

Karen added: “I love seeing the students flourish in their careers within NEAS and how apprenticeships have supported this, I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the next generation.

“The Trust has also been asked to become a member of the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network for the Department for Education which is an excellent achievement and we are delighted to sit on this important network.”

For more information on apprenticeships, please visit our website or visit the NHS Jobs website to see our latest roles.