We’re recruiting for a Multi Skill Engineer Apprentice (Electrical/Mechanical) and a Medical Electronics Apprentice! Read on to find out how you could have an incredibly rewarding role, whilst giving something back to your community at the same time. Even though you won’t be in a frontline care-giving job, you’ll play a vital role in making sure Doctors, Nurses and other healthcare professionals can look after the patients they meet every day…
So, what are each of the Apprentice roles?
- 1: Multi Skill Engineer: If you join as this, you’ll be working within our Estates department, which is critical in making sure that our hospitals and community sites are able to operate each day. You’ll study both Electrical and Mechanical at college, before specialising in one of them, going on to become an Electrical or a Mechanical Engineer. Working in a hospital is a highly specialist area, with multiple opportunities for progression.
- 2: Medical Electronics: This role is in our Clinical Engineering function, where you’ll play an integral part in servicing and fixing all of the medical equipment we use across our hospitals and in direct patient care, for example from oxygen flowmeters to defibrillators and anaesthetic machines. The team services hundreds of devices each month. There are many opportunities to progress in this field given it’s such a specialist area.
How does the Apprenticeship scheme work?
You work and study at the same time. In your first year, you’ll attend college fulltime if you’re a school or college-leaver, and study around your job if you’re an adult learner. In years two, three and four, you’ll attend college once a week, and then come to work in one of our hospital sites for the other four day. On those days, you’ll be paired with an experienced buddy who’ll help to train you on-the-job, and get you off to the best possible start in your new career. We also offer a huge amount of in-role training too, alongside what you learn in college, so you’ll be supported in your exams and studies every step of the way. You’ll receive a wage during your studies – this will increase every year as you pass your exams, and then jump up to a full-time salary once you’re qualified.
We’ve been supporting Apprentices into our workplace for the last 50 years. A large number of our Estates team colleagues joined us through the apprenticeship route, and even our Assistant Director of Estates began his career at North Tees hospital as an apprentice Electrician! It gives us huge pride and satisfaction in helping people flourish in their careers.
What opportunities are open to me when I qualify?
Where do we start? Typically we see our Apprentices go down the Mechanical, Electrical or Medical Engineering routes now, and this is what we’re looking for with our current vacancies. However, we also offer Apprenticeships in trades such as Plumbing, Painting, Decorating, Carpentry and Landscaping, amongst many other things. These Apprenticeships will open up so many career paths for you if you’re prepared to work hard and have a mindset that’s focused on continuous learning.
Is there an age limit – do I have to be a school leaver to apply?
No. There’s no age restrictions on Apprenticeships, so you can be fresh from school or college, or be an adult learner. This is where people who are currently in employment can upskill into an Estates trade. This is really popular – one of our current Estates Supervisors at North Tees previously enjoyed a successful career as a Chef before re-training as a Plumber, then moving into a management role. Don’t be put off if you’re an adult learner and you’ve not studied for a while. You’ll receive so much support to help you balance the classroom study part with the practical, hands-on stuff.
Do I need qualifications to apply?
Yes – there are entry-level criteria around GCSEs or equivalent qualifications. If you check out each of the role profiles, the specific criteria for each Apprenticeship is outlined for you.
So, what do some of our former Apprentices say?
Olly qualified as a Mechanical Engineer two years ago, and is now studying for a degree in Mechanical Engineering alongside his work at North Tees hospital. He says: “I received so much support in college and in the workplace from my NTH Solutions colleagues that it’s really helped me to learn an entirely new skillset and push myself to develop even further. I’ve learnt so much on the job already, yet it still feels like every day’s a school day! I know that I have a really strong career path ahead of me, and I get to do work which challenges me and is really interesting given the unique hospital environment we work in. If you want a really interesting career where you feel like you make a difference, I’d encourage you to apply. You won’t regret it!”
Simon is one of our Estates Supervisors at North Tees, who we supported as adult learner Apprentice. He said: “Leaving an established career and returning to study was daunting at first. However, stick with it! Once you start to be more hands-on and learn new skills, you start to pick things up fast, and it’s great that you can put your classroom skills into practice really quickly. Also, there isn’t really a learning opportunity like it – working in a hospital environment is so diverse that you come across different situations and problems to solve literally every day. People are reliant on us for their operations going ahead and the equipment they need working properly, so even though you’re not in a frontline care-giving role, you’re still part of the wider team that enables patient care delivery. It’s so rewarding!”
Finally…
So, why is the Estates function so critical to the safe and effective running of our hospitals? Our Interim Head of Estates, Richard Bertram, explains: “When a patient comes into hospital for an appointment or an operation, they shouldn’t be focused on our heating and lighting systems in theatre, or whether there will be a power outage during their visit, but instead focused on receiving the treatment they need.
“Our clinical colleagues couldn’t deliver the levels of care they do without the work our colleagues do to proactively manage the fabric and systems within our buildings, for example ensuring there’s a constant supply of heating, electricity or hot water. Equally, our various teams are on hand to respond to emergencies if they happen, with carefully planned and tested resilience systems in place in the background to ensure care delivery is seamless.
“Working in Estates is incredibly rewarding. Many of our colleagues will say they get their job satisfaction from fixing something that’s critical to someone else’s day, or playing their part in making sure that someone’s operation or treatment goes ahead without a hitch. There aren’t many jobs where you can say that.”
Click here to apply to become our next Apprentices: https://nthsolutions.co.uk/careers/. Applications close at 23:59 on Wednesday 04 June.
