‘Significant progress’ for apprenticeships at region’s ambulance service

Following an Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) inspection which took place in October 2021, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) has formally achieved significant progress in the three themes assessed. 

The Trust was commended for having a clear vision, an ambitious curriculum for apprenticeship provision which goes beyond the requirements of the qualification, and experienced and knowledgeable educators delivering high quality training.

Progress is deemed significant when it has been rapid and is already having considerable beneficial impact on learners. Less than 10% of apprenticeship providers have achieved significant progress across all three inspection themes.

The Trust has been offering apprenticeships since October 2018 and there are currently 298 apprentices enrolled on level 3 and level 4 standards-based apprenticeships including Ambulance Support Worker and Associate Ambulance Practitioner.

The Ofsted inspection lasted two days and the areas which were assessed were quality of education, leadership and management and effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements in place. 

The inspection report highlighted many positives, including helpful careers guidance with a clear progression pathway to paramedic, rigorous governance arrangements, exceptionally well-planned curriculum with apprentices developing a wide range of substantial new skills and knowledge which they successfully put into practice in their jobs.

Dawn Adams, Head of YAS Academy, said: “We are delighted with the outcome of the Ofsted inspection, and I am very proud of our Academy team.  The Trust is highly committed to the provision of learning and apprenticeships, and the excellent support we have from stakeholders, learners and clinicians has helped us to develop and deliver the programmes.

“We started the journey three years ago and, after a lot of hard work, being recognised by Ofsted with this rating is a huge achievement for everyone involved.  We welcome the very positive feedback and look forward to building future success on this firm foundation.”

Earlier this year, the Trust’s Ambulance Support Worker role won the gold Apprenticeship Programme of the Year award, ahead of seven other public and private sector finalists, at the national 2021 Learning Awards.

In addition, Morrisons has agreed to transfer £2.1m of its Apprenticeship Levy fund to Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust to help train the county’s future paramedics.  The two-year programme is helping to pay for 200 apprentices to be trained and means that the Trust will not have to access additional Government Apprenticeship Levy funding; the cost of this to the Trust would have been £100,000 (5%) and this is now being re-invested in patient care in the region.

Mike Long, ESFA (Education and Skills Funding Agency) Senior Skills Development Manager, said: “It is great to see a new employer provider being recognised as making significant progress with the implementation of an ambitious and high-quality apprenticeship programme which shows how apprenticeships can help tackle skills shortages in critical roles in the community.  The programme has been well planned and excellently implemented in the most challenging of circumstances and times and the Academy team fully deserves this recognition and I look forward to continuing to work with the team as the programme develops further.”

Information on both clinical and non-clinical apprenticeships is available here.

The inspection report can be viewed here.