22 March 2023

Are you looking to start your career in the NHS? Perhaps you are already in the NHS but want a change? CNWL invites you to apply for the trust’s apprenticeship scheme.

We have over 300 Occupational Therapists in the organisation already, and we’re keen to develop our own future workforce. We are therefore looking to increase the number of Occupational Therapy apprentices in the trust over the coming year.

Training to become an Occupational Therapist qualifies you to work with people of any age and in any setting. Indeed, our Occupational Therapists work across all our services in mental health, community services, urgent community response, specialist services and in health and justice services.

Wherever they work, our Occupational Therapists all share a belief that, to be healthy, we need to do the things that are most important to us. This could be as simple as working, socialising or participating in our favourite hobbies.

Occupational Therapists work with people on their goals and so need to be adaptable and creative problem solvers. You can read more about Occupational Therapy here and click here to hear what our very own Occupational Therapists have to say.

Watch our ‘day in the life’ video.

Aimme Williams, an apprentice at CNWL, said: “The OT apprenticeship has been an amazing opportunity for me to pursue my career in occupational therapy. Having worked as an OT support worker for five years prior to starting the course, I already knew I has a foundation of knowledge that I wanted to build on and this course provided the perfect opportunity for me to do so.

“It allows me to learn the theory behind the work that I’m doing but also put into practice what I have learned while studying straight away rather than waiting for placements.

This is also a benefit to the service as I am now able to contribute more and support qualified OTs in the work that we do with service users.”

I’m a manager looking to hire an apprentice

If you are a team leader or manager and you would like to increase your Occupational Therapy staff using apprenticeships, please reach out and we will support you to make this happen with internal or external recruitment. 

See all the benefits of having an apprentice in this document.

Once qualified, it has been estimated that an apprentice who remains in a trust for five years will lead to a return on investment of 250 percent.

Katherine Sims, Head Occupational Therapist in Hillingdon, said that apprentices are often a more reliable way to filling staffing gaps than universities.

She said: “It’s become clear in recent years that universities can no longer provide us with the number of OTs we need in services, therefore I see apprentices as being the way to supply the workforce.

“We have a plan in Hillingdon to have a continual stream of apprentices qualifying each year.

“it is a fantastic development opportunity for them and very positive for the teams they are in, retaining excellent staff and benefitting from their development over a number of years.”

Apprentices will need:

  • To be working with OTs
  • Evidence of GCSE level maths and English level A-C or 4-9 or Functional Skills L2 in Maths and English (If you do not have this, these courses are offered through the trust and can be completed alongside the application process)
  • Relevant L3 healthcare related qualifications

If you would like to know more or would like to apply for our trust apprenticeship scheme please take a look at our AHP apprenticeship handbook contact Seun on o.ogunkunle@nhs.net or come along to our Q&A session on the 30 March at 4pm

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