HEE announces new apprenticeship for trainee doctors
By Gemma Raw
A new Medical Doctor Degree Apprenticeship will provide an alternative training route for doctors and help diversify the NHS workforce.
Available from September 2023, the apprenticeship is aimed at widening access to undergraduate medical education, creating a workforce that's more representative of local communities. Participants will receive the same high standards of training as those who take the more traditional path to a career as a doctor. However, they'll be able to earn while they learn, making the profession accessible to those who may previously have been discouraged by the substantial costs involved in full-time academic study.
As well as providing opportunities to those from disadvantaged backgrounds, this approach will also empower healthcare providers to employ people from social and ethnic groups which are currently underrepresented in clinical healthcare jobs. This will help create a workforce which more closely represents the population it serves, as well as filling vacancies for doctors in areas where the NHS is struggling with recruitment.
How it works
Medical doctor degree apprentices will be employed by healthcare providers. They will study flexibly alongside work and will be able to put newly acquired knowledge and skills into practice immediately. The healthcare provider will meet some of the costs of the apprentice’s tuition. Some costs can also be met from the apprenticeship levy, which is a tax on employers specifically used for apprenticeship training.
Who can apply?
The Medical Doctor Degree Apprenticeship will be available to anyone with the required entry qualifications, which will be agreed between the employer and the education provider. This includes those currently working in healthcare jobs, such as nurses or allied health professionals, who could continue in their current roles while training.
Next steps
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and the Department of Education have both signed off on the apprenticeship scheme. Providers are now going through the process of planning how they will deliver apprenticeships in practice and it is expected that places will be available from September 2023.
IfATE have said that apprenticeship places are unlikely to be advertised before then and have advised anyone who is thinking about applying to check for vacancies on the NHS website or on individual employers’ job notification boards.
"For many, seeing that an apprentice can become a medical doctor will be a big surprise, but employers are driving change in the way we think about skills in this country – not everyone’s journey to career success has to be the same," said IfATE Chief Executive Jennifer Coupland. “We are opening up high status professions to give talented people of all ages the opportunity to use an apprenticeship to get the same high-quality training as via the traditional university route.”
Read more about the Medical Doctor Degree Apprenticeship on the Health Education England (HEE) website.
Find out more about NHS apprenticeships in our previous blog.
