Ambulance praised after Ofsted visit

The ambulance service, whose area includes the Fylde coast, changed the way it provides training to apprentices in May 2017 when it became an employer provider, meaning it was able to deliver its first regulated qualification in-house.

NWAS was randomly selected as the first new NHS employer provider in the country to receive an early monitoring visit, and was found to be making ‘reasonable progress’ across all three monitoring areas in a report published in May.

In the report, senior leaders at the trust were found to have a “clear workforce strategy and operational plan” to ensure apprentices “receive good-quality education and training to enable them to perform their job roles to a high standard.”

Apprentice recruitment was found to be “rigorous,” with all of those recruited from May 2017 still on the apprenticeship.

Most apprentices are “make good progress” and “achieve the targets set for them,” the report said.

Currently, 145 apprentices are enrolled onto the Level 4 Associate Ambulance Practitioner (AAP) apprenticeship, to become emergency medical technicians.

Michael Forrest, Deputy Chief Executive for NWAS, said: “We are extremely pleased with the comments from the report and very proud of the fantastic progress that our new apprentices are making.”

However, leaders and managers did recognise that the tracking and monitoring of apprentices’ progress required improvements.