Learning & Development Centre and Business Manager Review
at NHS
Higher Level Apprenticeship
Business Operations
Oxford
Review Submitted: May 2023
Overall Rating
5 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
5/5
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Overview of Role
5/5
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Skills Development
5/5
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Structure and Support
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
5/5
My role includes managing the Learning and Development centre and Business Team. Day-to-day this include managing finances, budgets, invoicing for large sums of money for the department, reviewing budget statements and finance tasks, managing funding streams. This also includes managing the centre and ensuring this is a suitable environment for staff and visitors to work in. I also manage a team so this includes line and operational management.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
5/5
I do enjoy the programme and enjoy working with different staff members in the Trust and also working with my team members in a different capacity. I do feel the programme would be more enjoyable if there was more interactive learning included as sometimes the PowerPoints aren't too interactive. For example having more group exercises to put learnt knowledge into practice.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
5/5
The apprenticeship has enabled me to learn new skills by developing my role to include new tasks, to provide evidence for my apprenticeship. For example we learnt about report writing and to further my learning I attended a webinar about report writing in the NHS, I also met with management to learn more about types of reports in the department and to support on writing the Annual Quality Report.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
5/5
The programme has been well structured mostly, however the timetable was changed frequently and it would have been useful to have a timetable planned with the sessions, dates and content at the beginning of the programme. I also find a copy of the slides useful to refer back to and we are missing some session slides from earlier on in the course.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
5/5
My employer is very supportive of me completing this programme. I have been supported to have study time, to take on new tasks to support my learning. I have also recently had an academic break due to work pressures around the time of end of financial year, which my employer was supportive of due to my reasons, but also encouraging me to restart the apprenticeship.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
5/5
I receive lots of support to enable me to better my evidence, gain new learning experiences and also support with my work as well. I recently took an academic break and my tutor was supportive of this decision, allowed me the time away from the apprenticeship and encouraged me to get stuck back in when I was ready.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
5/5
I feel the programme has enabled me to develop in my role, learn new experiences and theories and also be more confident in my role. I have recently secured a promotion which I feel being on this programme put me in good stead when applying for the role. I also feel the programme has developed my confidence in leading people.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
5/5
We are regularly encouraged to complete extra CPD training to enhance our skills. My self and my counter-parts who managed our administration teams also arrange monthly team wellbeing sessions which has been supported and funded by our management team. I am also being supported and funded to complete a mindfulness training qualification which will enable me to run sessions for the team.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend NHS to a friend?
Yes
Why?
The organisation is a great place to work with lots of perks to the Trust. The Trust values of caring, safe and excellent are reinforced throughout the organisation and it is a very supportive environment to work in. Recently the Trust has acknowledged the pressures on staff at the moment with the cost of living and has supported initiatives to help with this i.e. reimbursing the cost of purchasing a blue light card
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to NHS?
Go for a job with Oxford Health, you won't regret it! The Trust values of caring, safe and excellent are an important feature of the Trust and are reinforced through out, from the start of people applying to the Trust. The Trust covers a vast spread of the country with lots of different services, so there is lots of different roles to specialise in.
