COLUMN: Developing our staff with new skills by Maz Fosh, chief executive at Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust

I am passionate about developing people and so are my colleagues here at Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS).

We have introduced a life-long learning culture at LCHS. As part of this we run an apprentice centre which was established in 2017 to support the development of our staff, for career progression and to provide local opportunities for the communities we serve.

The apprentice centre has supported more than 200 staff on their personal career journeys using apprenticeships to achieve their ambitions in addition to enhancing our services.

There are a range of clinical and non-clinical apprenticeships available to people joining the Trust and for our staff.

Frontline role apprenticeships include healthcare support worker, nurse associate, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and nursing degrees.

Non-clinical apprenticeships cover business administration, senior leaders master’s degree, human resources support, assistant accountant and many more.

This summer our apprentice centre was inspected by Ofsted and was the first NHS community services trust to receive a grade of ‘Good’ in 2021 for the delivery of apprenticeships. The Ofsted report commented on how well we prepare apprentices for their career in the NHS and how proud they are to contribute to the Trust and patient care.

People take up apprenticeships for a variety of reasons. Some decide to refresh their skills and update and further their knowledge to benefit patients. Some people choose apprenticeships if they are thinking about changing the direction of their career and others use an apprenticeship to add value to an existing role, such as additional health and safety tasks.

LCHS apprentice centre aims is to support, engage, educate and develop staff to succeed. All apprenticeships seek to support people to reach their potential and unlock their careers.

So if you’re interested in finding out how the apprentice centre can support your career, or if you would like to become an apprentice in community-based NHS health care services please contact [email protected]

The range of services we provide include urgent care, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language services, community nursing, school age immunisations and children’s therapy services.

The Trust also provides services at four community hospitals. We have a wide variety of roles and we are always looking for professional, committed and enthusiastic individuals to join the LCHS family.

If you’d like to learn more about LCHS, please visit our website www.lincolnshirecommunityhealthservices.nhs.uk/and for details on the latest job vacancies, please visit http://jobs.lincolnshirecommunityhealthservices.nhs.uk