Publish date: 19 March 2025
NHS trust releases report showcasing how it is keeping its Community Promise
More than 8 in 10 apprentices at a North East NHS trust have carried on working there after their apprenticeship.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust recruited 453 direct-entry apprentices from 2022 to 2024, with 83% continuing into employment at the organisation.
This is just one of the highlights featured in a review of the trust’s Community Promise, focusing particularly on 2024.
Others include the £840,000 secured in 2024 for social value good causes through procurement work, and the more than 300 local companies from which the trust buys goods and services each year.
Northumbria Healthcare introduced its Community Promise in 2021. It is a pledge to maximise the impact the trust has for people living and working in Northumberland, North Tyneside and beyond.
The Keeping Our Community Promise – 2024 in review report sets out the progress made against each of the 5 key pillars - employment, education, economy, environment and inequalities.
It also details other successful initiatives, like the Northumbria Café events which were launched to develop closer links with the voluntary and community sector.
Birju Bartoli, Northumbria Healthcare’s chief executive, said: “Our Community Promise is about doing all we can to improve people’s lives. The wellbeing of our communities is about far more than healthcare services.
“Healthcare remains our core business, and we work hard to keep improving patient and staff experience. But we are also a major employer and can have an impact. We are a major buyer and user of products and services so have influence, and we are very conscious of our environmental impact.”
Find out more about the Community Promise here and read the 2024 review here.
Case study - Laura Scurr, from admin apprentice to nursing
I then applied for an administrator post in the apprenticeship team and joined the team in 2021. After becoming a senior administrator and my role developing, I enrolled onto the level 3 data specialist apprenticeship.
Ever since I was younger, I always wanted to be a nurse. I was going to apply for university before starting here, but I knew it wasn’t the right time. I had a particular interest in mental health and learning disabilities. This led to my next career change. I joined another trust as a mental health nursing assistant. I then moved to general nursing in A&E at Newcastle.
From my previous role, I knew about the trainee nursing associate apprenticeship. Joining this brought me back to Northumbria in January 2025.
I am only a week into my new role. But I already know that I would like to do an apprenticeship to become a qualified nurse too. I also want to grab any training or clinical skills opportunities I can.
Apprenticeships have given me the chance to progress, develop and find a career path that’s right for me.
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