With budget cuts biting and recruitment challenges mounting, NHS trusts are under pressure to do more with less. But what if the answer to futureproofing your workforce lies not in external hires, but in the talented, committed people already within your organisation?

At a time when workforce planners are grappling with high vacancy rates, soaring agency spend, and sluggish recruitment pipelines, many are overlooking a powerful internal tool: the degree apprenticeship. University of Greenwich’s degree apprenticeships in nursing, mental health nursing, physiotherapy, and speech and language therapy offer transformative, cost-effective pathways to upskill healthcare support workers into fully qualified professionals.

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The problem: static roles and lost potential

Across the NHS, thousands of support staff possess the passion and frontline experience to become registered practitioners, but are held back by financial and structural barriers. For healthcare assistants and allied health support staff, the leap to registration often means stepping away from employment, accruing debt, and navigating training routes that don’t align with their realities.

At the same time, trusts are seeing:

  • Growing reliance on costly agency or locum staff
  • Limited progression routes causing disengagement
  • High turnover among early-career staff

The result? Trusts miss out on a loyal, local talent pool that’s ready to develop with the right support.

The solution: earn while you learn

University of Greenwich delivers a suite of health degree apprenticeships across:

  • Adult Nursing
  • Mental Health Nursing
  • Physiotherapy
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • …and more.

Each programme is accredited by national bodies and designed in collaboration with NHS trusts to ensure apprentices can study while continuing to work in their current roles. Apprentices remain in post for 20 per cent of their time while undertaking degree-level training, with tuition funded through the apprenticeship levy.

Training is:

  • Tailored to local workforce needs and trust policies;
  • Accessible with no tuition fees and a continued salary;
  • Embedded through placements within the apprentice’s own trust and partner trusts; and
  • Supported by simulation-based learning at Greenwich’s award-winning GLASC facility.

Real progression, real results

Take Gemma, a support worker for 15 years at Oxleas Foundation Trust. Through Greenwich’s mental health nursing degree apprenticeship, she became a registered nurse without leaving her post or taking on student debt. She now applies her existing experience alongside newly gained clinical expertise, improving care and team continuity.

Or consider Devina, now completing her final year of the mental health nursing apprenticeship at South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust. Devina continued to work while studying, supported by strong university mentorship and trust collaboration.

Greenwich has also supported career transitions through physiotherapy and speech and language therapy apprenticeships – areas often experiencing critical shortages. These programmes enable trusts to develop clinicians with a firsthand understanding of patient care, local systems, and community needs.

Designed in partnership

Greenwich works closely with each participating trust to shape delivery models that align with workforce strategy. From curriculum co-design and placement scheduling to ongoing apprentice support and administration, the university provides an end-to-end partnership.

Trusts including Barts Health, Lewisham and Greenwich Trust, and Guy’s and St Thomas’ are already seeing the benefits of this embedded model: stronger staff engagement, greater retention, and a more resilient workforce across nursing and allied health disciplines.

Why it matters

These apprenticeships aren’t just educational opportunities; they are strategic workforce solutions. They:

  • Reduce recruitment lag by growing talent in-house;
  • Build loyalty and long-term retention;
  • Strengthen community-integrated care; and
  • Enhance trust resilience against workforce disruption.

With the apprenticeship levy funding tuition and part of the salary costs, trusts can access this pipeline without putting pressure on stretched training budgets.

Meet the apprentices shaping your workforce

If you’re planning workforce growth or looking to revitalise internal progression routes, now is the time to act.

Here’s how to get started:

Health degree apprenticeships are already transforming careers and improving care. Let them work for your trust, too.

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