West Midlands Ambulance Service is celebrating over 3,500 apprentices past and present, who have been employed by the Trust this National Apprenticeship Week.
National Apprenticeship Week is marked across the 5th to the 11th February and aims to shine a light on the amazing work being done by employers and apprentices across the country.
West Midlands Ambulance Service is one of the first Ambulance Trusts approved as an Apprenticeship Main Training Provider with the Education and Skills Funding Agency for Higher Level Apprenticeships and remains the most productive organisation in the West Midlands region, and within the ambulance sector, for developing our staff through the delivery of the apprenticeship standards, with the largest provision of student paramedic registered apprentices.
The Trust first introduced apprenticeship programmes in 2010, when it introduced the very first apprenticeship which still runs at the Trust today, the Motor Vehicle Apprenticeship. To date, the Trust currently have several apprenticeship routes to offer, ranging from level 2 to level 7 apprenticeships. Since 2010, the service has seen a total of 3,977 apprentices.
In October 2012, the Trust announced its Non-Emergency Patient Transport Scheme, over the eleven years we have recruited 289 apprentices onto the scheme. Five are currently on programme and we are in the process of recruiting more, many have progressed onto Permanent positions with the Trust. Seventeen are now Paramedics with us, twenty are technicians, eight are progressing within the Student Paramedic pathway, four are involved in the training of our staff and eighty-two are employed within our Patient Transport Scheme and other departments.
Apprenticeships are central to assist the Trust to build our future workforce. I would like to thank everyone involved in supporting our apprenticeship schemes and assisting with the development of our staff.
Carla Beechey, Director of People
We’re so proud of all of our past and present apprentices and it’s so exciting to take the opportunity on National Apprenticeship Week to highlight their hard work, and the development opportunities that we have on offer within the Trust.
Sophie Cooper, Education and Apprenticeship Manager
We’re so excited to be marking National Apprenticeship Week and highlighting some of the apprenticeships we currently have available to apply for.
It’s a common misconception that as a service, we only recruit for Paramedics, but that just is not true. We have a broad range of apprenticeships ranging from our Student Paramedic training course, Motor Vehicle apprentices, Business Admin and much more.
Louise Jones, Recruitment Manager
If you’d like to find out more about roles available at the Trust, you can do so by visiting our current vacancies page.
The Trust will be celebrating National Apprenticeship Week on @OfficialWMAS social media on Facebook, Instagram, X and Threads by sharing the stories of some past and present apprentices and celebrating their hard work and progression with the Trust.