Ofsted has rated Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust’s apprenticeship scheme as ‘Good’ across all five categories.

These are: The quality of education; Behaviour and Attitudes; Personal development; Leadership and Management and Safeguarding.

This is a significant achievement for the Trust. The positive report which accompanies this rating is a testament to the expertise of the apprenticeship team; the support our apprentices receive from their workplace and the vision of senior managers in integrating apprenticeships into their workforce plans.

The report commended the skill and knowledge of the tutors as well as the effective guidance given in applying the learner’s new knowledge in the workplace. It noted the variety of wellbeing offer for staff and apprentices, as well as the safeguarding arrangements in place keeping them safe.

The Trust has been both delivering their apprenticeship scheme since 2018, working alongside universities to deliver further apprenticeships since that time. More than 300 apprentices have successfully complete their course, with at least 90 per cent remaining in the Trust.

More recently the Trust has offered apprentices to younger people, which has added another pathway into nursing. At the time of inspection there were 24 nurse cadets aged 16-18 working in the Trust, making OHFT the only Trust in the area offering this scheme as an apprenticeship.

Charmaine Desouza, Chief People Officer at Oxford Health, said: “We have apprentices working and studying across the Trust in a wide variety of departments. It is vital that the apprentices can apply what they are learning to the workplace and our tutors and managers have established practices to ensure that the training is fit for purpose. It has been so successful that leaders have successfully used their apprenticeship offer to fill skills gaps. This fits perfectly with our workforce plan of which apprenticeships are an integral part.”

In deciding the outcome, Ofsted gathered feedback from all 169 learners from clinical and non-clinical apprenticeship programmes, and interviewed apprentices, teachers, managers and support staff, all of whose comments were fed into the final report.

Rebecca Elsworth, the Apprenticeship Manager in the Learning and Development team said: “This is a very successful outcome and one that we are very proud of. We are very grateful to everyone across the organisation who has helped to make the apprenticeship programmes so successful including our apprentices who make it all possible. In particular, the previous director of Education and Development, Helen Green, whose vision has allowed us to become the biggest NHS apprenticeship provider in the region.”

She added: “Apprenticeships offer a solid start to people of all ages wanting to make their career in the NHS, as well as opening the door for existing staff to develop their career with the organisation.

All apprentices are given help and advice on how they can progress in their career, and there are regular review meetings ensure with their manager to get feedback on how they are progressing. “Our aim in the Trust is to be an employer of choice and I think that our apprenticeship scheme is an integral part of why people would choose to come here” she concluded.

For more information or to apply for an apprenticeship please contact: apprenticeships@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk