An apprenticeship is simply formal on-the-job learning. This means that you get essential hands-on work experience while also earning a real salary – and to top it all off you get to take home a qualification as well.

Apprenticeships are a great way to:

• start a career – most people who complete an apprenticeship will gain permanent employment in the Trust
• gain job-specific skills
• get a qualification
• earn money while you learn

The question to ask yourself is: what do I want to do for a career?

This video explains more about apprenticeships in the NHS: 

Why you should choose our Trust

We are passionate about learning, development and progression opportunities for all our staff. Our managers are dedicated to supporting you with your work-based learning journey.

There is a full range of apprenticeship standards that are linked to healthcare. We currently offer apprenticeships to our staff in several different areas, including:

• healthcare support worker
• business administration
• customer service
• pharmacy
• finance
• digital
• leadership and management
• nursing
• nursing associate
• advanced clinical practitioner
• occupational therapy
• improvement technician
• improvement practitioner

Who can apply

Apprenticeships are for everyone – from Level 2 (GCSE level) to Level 7 (post-graduate or masters level). Apprenticeships provide routes into a variety of careers and are an excellent opportunity to earn, gain work experience, develop skills and achieve nationally recognised qualifications at the same time.

Apprenticeships also offer career development opportunities for current staff. How to apply Please email all enquiries to apprentice@slam.nhs.uk.

Functional skills

Functional skills are practical skills in English and maths that allow individuals to operate confidently, effectively and independently in life and work. Having functional skills qualifications will enhance your CV and increase the learning opportunities open to you because so many courses ask for this as a requirement. This is the case no matter at what academic level you plan to study. If you need to complete functional skills qualifications, please email apprentice@slam.nhs.uk.

Public sector target for apprenticeships

Every year all public sector bodies with 250 or more staff are required to publish the number of apprenticeships starts as a percentage of its workforce headcount, to monitor progress against a government target to employ an average of at least 2.3% of their staff as new apprentice starts annually over the period 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2021.

View the latest report from our Trust (PDF)

If you want more information on these targets or wish to discuss apprenticeships in more detail please contact apprentice@slam.nhs.uk.