Introduction to apprenticeships

Apprenticeships at CUH are available to internal and external candidates; they provide access at different educational levels: intermediate levels (Level 2) to degree levels (Levels 5 – 7) across a broad range of occupational/professional roles. They also provide routes to registered healthcare professions (e.g. Nursing, Healthcare Science and Allied Health Professionals).

Please see apprenticeships explained for further information about how apprenticeships work and the different levels.

We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to develop their skills, knowledge and expertise. An apprenticeship can help people achieve their long-term career aspirations. We offer apprenticeships to individuals at all ages and career stages – from school/college leavers taking their first steps into the health service, those seeking job/career change, those wanting a career progression route and to our existing members of staff who want to enhance their skills and future prospects.

CUH works in partnership with a range of universities, colleges and high-quality independent training providers.

CUH’s Apprenticeship programmes

We continue to increase the availability to a broader range of occupations/professions where we consider they will provide development and enhance skills and knowledge. We also ensure we keep abreast of any new Apprenticeship Standards that are approved by the Institute of Apprenticeships (opens in a new tab).

There are two main types of apprenticeship routes:

Direct Entry Apprenticeships (Short Apprenticeships lasting 15 – 24 months)

These direct entry apprenticeships are typically for external candidates where those applying may have not worked previously, or within this type of role or where an individual may have some experience and wish to undertake an apprenticeship to gain broader skills, experience and a recognised qualification/apprenticeship. They offer a fixed term contract.

At various times of the year we recruit to these apprenticeship job roles in

Administration and customer service
Pharmacy
Science
Estates and Facilities (for example carpentry and plumbing)

Scroll down to the links on this page to see more detail about each of these.

For further information about direct entry apprenticeships, routes and salary see Direct Entry Apprenticeship

The frequency of the advertisements will depend upon the vacancies that are available within the various departments. You can look out for current apprenticeship job roles on our current vacancies page and click on ‘Apprenticeships’. You can also sign up to our job alerts (opens in a new tab)

If there are no current opportunities listed, or to find out more, you can contact the Work Opportunities Team using the contact details available at the bottom of this page.

Apprenticeship Career Progression Pathways

These apprenticeships are permanent positions that enable an employee to work and have paid study time. Some of these lead to a higher apprenticeship qualification, and some a degree apprenticeship qualification. The current range of career progression apprenticeships are in place to gain progression to the following professional roles;

Nursing (Registered Nurse or Nursing Associate),
Healthcare Science,
Allied Health Professionals (Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Operational Department Practitioner, Mammography)

Click on the links further down the page for more details on these.

There is also access for existing, permanent members of staff to undertake short and career progression apprenticeship programmes relevant for their job role (e.g. finance, HR, project management, leadership apprenticeships).

Types of apprenticeships available at CUH

View the links below for the different types of apprenticeships currently available. Also click the links on the drop down menu to the left or top of the page for more information on how they work.

External Candidates

If you are an external candidate you will note below that some of the career progression apprenticeships are currently only accessible to those already in CUH employment. However, this should not deter you as there are often opportunities to apply for assistant job roles within departments that will then provide access to development so that you can apply as an internal candidate.

Exceptions to this apply to the Nursing Apprenticeship Degree pathway where there is an opportunity to apply for this route at any time externally as our Healthcare Support Worker/Nursing Apprenticeship Pathway (NAP) role is advertised on a regular basis, usually monthly. .

Take a look at our current vacancies for current roles, or alternatively to find out if there are forthcoming apprenticeship opportunities in your preferred job/career choice get in touch:

If we do not currently have a vacancy you are interested in you can sign up to our job alerts (opens in a new tab) to have any vacancies in areas of interest delivered directly to your inbox.