Name: Mr Nigel Hogg
Company Name: Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust 
Job Title: Trust-wide lead on Apprenticeship 
A cost-effective way to upskill employees and retain great staff
As the Trust-wide lead on apprenticeships at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Nigel Hogg knows all about the many benefits that degree apprenticeships can offer an organisation.
“Apprenticeships significantly contribute to our skilled workforce numbers and, as a result, they reduce the skilled staff vacancies we’d otherwise have,” says Nigel. “They also work as an effective tool for us to retain staff. Apprenticeships enable us to invest in our people and help ensure that the new skills and knowledge they gain are implemented.”
Great relationship with the University of Greenwich
“We have a very good working relationship with the University of Greenwich. Their team consults with us on curriculum design and we get both corporate and individual feedback on how our apprentices are progressing,” Nigel says. “They try to make sure all of our staff members do the best they can and help them to complete their apprenticeships successfully wherever possible.”
A natural fit with our values
“The nursing profession is generally understaffed due to the lack of qualified clinicians out there,” Nigel explains. “These skilled clinician shortages, along with the Apprenticeship Levy introduction and previous changes to NHS workforce training, were big deciding factors in us moving to apprenticeships.
“Apprenticeships allow us to grow a workforce that’s both fit for purpose and follows our values. Because we employ and train apprentices and apprenticeships are strongly workplace-based, it makes it easy for us to ensure apprentices share our values and put them into practice.”
Opportunities for staff to progress
Degree apprenticeships offer new and current staff the chance to gain degrees and careers, which they often think they could never achieve due to their age or backgrounds, Nigel explains.
“Once our apprentices qualify, they become active members of our safe staffing level teams. Many of them look to progress their careers even further, through follow-on training and development.”
Regularly reviewed programmes
Nigel says that apprenticeships are, by their very nature, reviewed regularly. Their respective governing bodies then adjust the programmes in line with the review results to make sure they stay fully relevant to both employers and learners.
“Apprenticeship standards are designed by governing bodies and employers to meet the needs of a specific role,” he says, “which allow us to develop qualified and professionally respected staff who are best suited to carry out their roles.”
Growing the number of apprenticeships
“Our workforce planning depends more and more on apprenticeships to fulfil our present and future requirements,” Nigel explains. “My role is to increase apprenticeship engagement in my organisation and we have grown from around 25 apprentices in 2019 to around 165 in 2024. We’re looking to increase that number wherever we can.
“If your organisation has a skills shortage, then that situation is unlikely to change unless you train up your staff to industry standards. If you’re going to pay for training, then normally apprenticeships are one of the more cost-effective ways to do so.”
