Northamptonshire Health and Care Partnership Apprenticeship Celebration Event 2020

On Friday 7th February, Northamptonshire Health and Care Partnership celebrated the last day of National Apprenticeship Week 2020 with a county-wide apprenticeship celebration event. Building on the success of the first and second events held in 2018 and 2019, the evening provided a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the achievements of apprentices working across health and care services in our county – and to recognise the talents and success stories from across the county.

As well as celebrating the success of individuals, the event at the Park Inn in Northampton also reflected the importance of organisations working in partnership to provide high quality health and care services across Northamptonshire. Award winners represented Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, St Andrew’s Healthcare, adult social care and primary care.

Apprenticeship programmes provide routes into a variety of careers and our county’s health and care organisations are committed to offering apprenticeship opportunities at all levels – both for new recruits starting out on their careers and also for existing staff to develop and progress.

The celebration event showcased how valuable apprenticeships are both for individuals and the NHS and social care as employers. Winners were recognised across 10 award categories in total – including County Nurse; Newcomer and Personal Achievement.

Nominations recognised the success of apprentices working in many different job roles and settings across the partnership network – including a variety of health and care roles, nursing associates, business administration, caterings, finance and engineering – demonstrating the many different apprenticeships available across the NHS and social care.

Meanwhile, the Apprentice Mentor and Apprentice Manager Awards recognised the importance of providing quality apprenticeship programmes and the right support to enable individuals to develop and progress.

The final award presentation of the evening was for Northamptonshire Health and Care Partnership 2020 ‘Apprentice of the Year’, which was won by Rhiannon Rees-Jones from Northamptonshire Adult Social Services. Rhiannon was selected independently by Caron Bouckley, Workforce Transformation Manager for Health Education England, who judged that she had demonstrated the achievements, qualities and behaviours that exemplify an inspirational apprentice.

“To win ‘Apprentice of the Year’ was phenomenally incredible, and I feel really honoured.  As someone with Asperger’s life can be pretty challenging, but I no longer see it as a barrier.   I have achieved things I never thought I would thanks to the support of my friends, family and work colleagues”. Rhiannon Rees-Jones – AotY Winner 2020 – Adult Social Care

Keynote speaker Toby Sanders, Northamptonshire Health and Care Partnership Executive Lead and Chief Executive of Northamptonshire CCGs, said: “This event evidences how our partners are ‘looking beyond’ traditional hiring routes, by growing our own talent and shouting about the value they already see from diversifying their workforce, by the sheer number of nominations received. There has been great change with apprenticeships over the last two years, which has seen an increase in the variety of apprenticeship programmes and levels offered, plus new routes into careers for existing and ‘true’ apprentices and this is steadily expanding with a growing number of apprenticeships and the routes available.”

Host for the evening, Employer and Skills Manager at SEMLEP, added: “The evening has been humbling and a privilege to be involved. The awards highlight the opportunities in both health and care and the way in which apprenticeships can encourage and embrace diversity and inclusion. A truly inspirational celebration of the success of staff and members of the NHCP.”