Am I eligible to apply?
Successful applications will have to demonstrate all of the following, proof of which will be required as part of the recruitment and selection process:
Have a minimum of two years’ experience as a front-line NHS emergency care assistant (ECA), ambulance practitioner (AP) or technician (your period of ECA training can count towards satisfying the experience requirement);
- Cohort 7 – you will need to have two years’ experience as of 31/05/2022
- Cohort 8 – you will need to have two years’ experience as of 14/08/2022
Able to evidence, at time of application, (within 7 days of applying) the required qualifications (GCSE Grade 4-9 (historically A-C) in Maths and English Language or the equivalent Level 2 Functional Skills certificates);
Have Line Managers support for application (this will be checked through the CBM);
- This includes (where relevant) to have the agreement to be contracted to a minimum of 30 hours per week at commencement of the apprenticeship programme (applicants must have worked a minimum of 3150 hours to be eligible to apply
100% Mandatory Training Compliance (this will be checked); To have read the Paramedic Prospectus and understand all that is required, before, during and after the course, including the Bridging Course.
The entry requirements for this programme require an ECA to be working for an NHS Ambulance Trust. Therefore, we are unable to accept other experience such as Hub, community responder, fire co-responder experience in place.
This experience also needs to be ‘contemporary’. If you have recent experience as an ECA, but have not worked for the last two years as an ECA then your application would need to be reviewed by the University of Cumbria on an individual basis.
Experience as an ECA from outside of SWAST will need to be reviewed on an individual basis, and acceptability will be dependent on which Trust you were working with, and that Trust’s ECA training course content.
What does it cost?
This programme will utilise the Trust’s apprenticeship levy and will therefore cover the tuition fees of the programme.
There is however a pre-requisite module for the apprenticeship which is called a bridging course and cannot be funded via the levy, therefore this needs to be self-funded at the cost of £1,550.
You can pay this up front or the Trust can offer support to cover this for you to then pay this back. Repayments will be set up from the month that you commence the bridging course at £130 per month over 12 months.
Although there is a significant amount of support available to students on the bridging course, in the event where a student does need any additional tutorials throughout their bridging, these will be charged at £200 per tutorial.
Should you defer, fail, or withdraw from the course at any point prior to completion you will be required to repay any remaining amount due for the bridging course that has not already been repaid via salary deductions.
The intention of the Apprenticeship is to provide a development pathway to Paramedic and retain our people. Therefore the Trust are looking to benefit from the upskilling this will provide.
If for reasons other than redundancy, end of a fixed term contract or ill health retirement you leave the Trust’s employ within 24 months of completing a course provided or funded by the Trust you may be required to reimburse some of the costs associated with this course. An individual discussion will take place to advise you on any associated costs. Please be aware that the Trust may recover monies owed from any salary received during your notice period. The Trust will recover up to 50% of your final salary if required to recover training costs. Any balance outstanding after this will be invoiced to you by our Payroll Department
What is the bridging course?
The prerequisite module, known as the bridging course, is approximately six months in duration and a programme of learning which enables a learner to progress from a context where they are capable of studying at Level 3 to a context where they are capable of studying at Level 4, and beyond.
To find out more, visit the Paramedic Apprenticeship Prospectus
How do I apply?
Please refer to the recruitment and selection guidance below.
When can I apply?
Please refer to the current application timelines and programme dates below.
What else do I need to know?
All the information you need can be found in our Paramedic Apprenticeship Prospectus
Got an unanswered question? Please contact the Organisational Development Team at ODTeam@swast.nhs.uk
