Offering apprenticeships to help fill vital roles in prison healthcare

Apprenticeships – they’re no longer just for school leavers. For National Apprenticeship Week 2020, Sodexo Justice's Policy and Professional Practice manager, Gillian Hunter-Briscoe, provides insight in to why apprenticeships are a fantastic avenue for new recruits, those looking to develop, or even those looking for a complete career change.

Here she tells us how offering apprenticeships is helping to fill vital roles in prison healthcare.

“Apprenticeships are a great way into a clinical career. Within our Justice business, Sodexo currently has four healthcare assistants on the Level 5 Foundation Degree, Associate Practitioner Apprenticeship. These individuals once qualified will be able to deliver an extensive range of care to patients, administer medicines and run clinics enhancing the skill set of the clinical staff team and their own personal abilities.

“Demands on healthcare can be especially challenging in a prison environment: our teams are caring for people with a range of complex needs. We strike a balance to ensure that our people provide the maximum level of care, and our nurses’ abilities and time are used effectively and efficiently. So by training more nursing assistants up to practitioner level through our apprenticeship programme, we can utilise our nurses to spend more quality time with complex patients, promoting continuity of care and ensuring our professionals enjoy fulfilling careers where they can use their clinical skills to best effect.

“Of course, we want to not only recruit the best, but invest and nurture them to become the talent they aspire to be. One way we do this is by offering further development opportunities for qualified nurses, including leadership, non-medical prescriber courses and advanced practitioner training.

“Working in a prison environment can be perceived as more challenging, but we’re working hard to break down that view.

Our whole environment and team revolves around keeping people safe, both residents and staff.

"It can be a chaotic at times, but it can also be one of the most rewarding. In a prison, our nurses have the opportunity to build positive relationships with patients during the course of their stay, take a proactive role in their healthcare journey and help to keep them safe through to release."

Sodexo offers a range of exciting and rewarding jobs - you can register your interest in an apprenticeshop at Sodexo by completing this short form, or visit sodexojobs.co.uk for our current vacancies within Justice.

Watch the video below and start your apprenticeship journey today.

Do you want to find out more about Sodexo Justice? Contact our Business Development team.