Spire expands nursing degree apprenticeship programme

Spire Healthcare has announced the expansion of its nurse degree apprenticeship programme with 25 new roles across 16 of its sites in England.

The four-year programme leads to a BSc in Adult Nursing and is delivered via a combination of onsite placements in hospitals alongside distance learning training and assessments at the University of Sunderland.

Roughly 5% of Spire’s workforce is made up of apprentices and 160 people are currently enrolled on its existing nursing degree apprenticeship programme, which provides a salary of around £21,000 during training. It has also been looking at opportunities to expand its programmes and in 2022 launched a new apprenticeship scheme in cardiac physiology.

Spire group clinical director and chief nurse Professor Lisa Grant said: ‘While national shortages in healthcare professionals are still a concern for all healthcare providers in England, continued investment in our nursing apprenticeship programme – one of the largest of a single organisation in England – is aimed at building a talent pipeline for our business and the broader healthcare sector. Importantly, this programme contributes to the sustainability of the whole healthcare sector in the UK, because many of our graduates will go on to careers in the NHS and elsewhere – something we encourage as a net contributor to society.’

Applications for the programme are now open, with successful applicants starting in mid-December 2023.