Publish date: 5 February 2025
Apprenticeships helping NHS trust to develop key members of skilled workforce
A North East NHS trust is now using apprenticeships to develop staff for a key role that supports patients having surgery.
The first operating department practitioners (ODPs) to qualify via the apprenticeship route at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust are now in post, working in anaesthetics, general surgery and orthopaedics.
The trailblazing trio – Helen Dodds, Kim Halliday and Gemma Peart – are an example of the commitment of the trust to growing its own workforce for the future and supporting its staff to undergo education and training.
The three were previously healthcare support workers and have spent three years doing one day a week of university education and the rest of the week in placements around the trust’s hospitals in Northumberland and North Tyneside, not just in operating theatres, but also in critical care and the birthing centre. Anaesthetics is covered when working as part of the anaesthetics trauma team.
ODPs play a major role in each phase of a person’s operation, providing care and support in anaesthetics, surgery and recovery. They manage the preparation of the operating theatres, and cover a range of duties with surgical and anaesthetic teams.
Colleen Hayley, an ODP who now works as a clinical educator at Northumbria Healthcare, said: “We’re proud of Helen, Kim and Gemma, as they really have been trailblazers for this route to becoming ODPs. There is now plenty of interest from others wanting to follow their footsteps.”
Operating department practitioner is one of the allied health professions (AHPs), a category of healthcare staff who provide a range of different services, making up the third largest clinical workforce.
Marie Constable is the trust’s dedicated practice placement facilitator for AHPs, supporting their education and training needs.
“ODPs are just one of the really important AHP roles working in our hospitals and the wider community,” she said. “AHPs as a whole help people live their lives as fully as possible, whether by treating, rehabilitating or improving the lives of patients.”
Northumbria Healthcare’s commitment to training and workforce development was underlined last summer with the opening of the Northumbria Health and Care Academy, a state-of-the-art education and training facility. The focus of the £32 million development is nursing, midwifery and AHPs, and its offer is bolstered by a partnership with the University of Sunderland.
Elsewhere, the trust is supporting the development of careers in health and care through a partnership with Northumberland College, part of Education Partnership North East, and support for the new healthcare training facility at Bede Academy in Blyth.
These all align with Northumbria Healthcare’s Community Promise, a pledge to support the people it serves based on five key pillars, including education and employment. A widening participation team works with schools and colleges to support access to health and care careers.
Media contact
Ben O’Connell, external communications manager, Northumbria Healthcare
Benjamin.O'Connell@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.ukor
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