How finance apprentices helped the NHS in its hour of need

Apprentices proved how they can have an immediate impact as an NHS finance team faced its greatest challenge

Spring 2020: the first few weeks of the pandemic saw the NHS flung into the biggest crisis of its six-decade history. As medics risked their lives protecting patients in the face of this new mysterious menace, the finance teams supporting these healthcare heroes also underwent unprecedented challenges to their jobs. Suddenly, they were thrown into military-style operations: totting up supplies (or lack thereof) of much-needed PPE, calculating the costs of shutting services for safety issues, dealing with payroll changes – all following a long-lasting public sector funding squeeze.

This was a time when apprentices came to the fore demonstrating beyond doubt the value they can add to organisations while still studying for their qualification.

“It was hell,” recalls Sue Lyddon, finance workforce manager, University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB), NHS Foundation Trust. “We were relocating staff to work on the frontline, working incredibly long hours and dealing with worries about staff welfare – all at a time when we were delivering year-end accounts and bringing two different hospitals together.”

In her team at UHB, Sue employs 35 apprentices, taking on 8-12 new apprentices a year, employing “nearly all of them,” she notes.

Yet, Sue was impressed with the practical impact they had. “They were really important [to our operations],” says Sue. “The pandemic left many finance departments short-staffed; meaning we had to temporarily relocate apprentices. But they were great: they rocked up every day, ready to take on the challenges and get involved… There were some real stars to come out of this period.”

One such star is 20-year-old Harry Wright. The 20-year-old joined UHB as an AAT Level 3 apprentice in September 2019 shortly after finishing his A-levels at a nearby Solihull sixth-form. He’s since had two promotions and currently works as a senior financial management assistant. It’s a role that sees him carry out tasks above that of an average accounting apprentice: a typical day may see Harry visiting a trauma or orthopaedic ward, or meeting ward managers and matrons to discuss where their departments could slash costs.

“Working in management accounts involves identifying savings; I get to meet budget-holders to discuss ideas for savings, which helps reinvest money in other areas of the business,” says Harry (who was temporarily drafted to work in the payroll team in March 2020). “It’s tasks like this where junior apprentices can have a real impact.”

Sue has no qualms about Harry meeting senior stakeholders. “Harry is my PR star,” she enthuses. “He’s incredibly good at public speaking. I can put him in front of an audience and he’s very confident. Harry has represented the team at a recruitment fair and given a speech to my new cohort of apprentices.” The young apprentice has developed such an aptitude for accounting that Sue says she has “no hesitation in picking up the phone and saying, ‘Harry, what do you think about this?’”

Apprentices can make particularly effective sounding-boards when it comes to recruitment, says Sue: “The apprentices are great at bringing in new ideas; I’ll often ask them for their input and honest opinion if I’m looking to bring in somebody new.”

Sue views apprentices as playing an integral role in building a management pipeline within her team. “We’ve had senior accountants who have suddenly become managers and couldn’t do it,” says Sue. “But if you get junior apprentices to look after any new cohorts coming in, it’s a clear pathway and the chance for them to gain some great all-round skills.”

Indeed, Harry – who currently acts as a ‘buddy’ to younger apprentices – has set his sights on a management role. “Management is definitely something I’m aspiring towards,” he says. “There are a couple of managers here not much older than me. After I’ve studied ACA and my apprenticeship has finished, I’d like to work my way higher up the organisation.”

In 2017 the government started asking large public bodies employing more than 250 employees to ensure that 2.3% of its staff are apprentices. This has helped reshape recruitment in the NHS, armed forces, and civil service.

But Sue’s team started even earlier. Her department began taking on apprentices in 2014, a time when it was struggling to recruit local talent. “We realised that finance wasn’t attracting the local community,” she remembers. “We’ve got lots of competition in the area: Jaguar Land Rover, plus all the businesses in Birmingham. However, when we went live with the first apprenticeship, we were inundated with applications…”

There are other benefits of filling an office with apprentices. “It’s injected new life into the organisation,” says Sue. “We’re a very young team now, which helps all of us look at things differently.”

She also refutes the belief – held by some business-leaders – that it could take many years for an apprentice’s impact to be felt within the organisation. “You’ll see the benefits within the first few weeks,” says Sue. “When you’ve got an apprentice who’s really switched on, it makes such a difference. Starting an apprenticeship isn’t straightforward, but once it’s up-and-running, it runs itself. The benefits we’ve gained from investing into our apprentices has been returned tenfold.”

The success of the apprenticeship scheme in her department means that Sue is looking at expanding it, perhaps creating a two-tier approach, incorporating both school-leavers and graduates.

If any bosses are undecided about whether to recruit apprentices, Sue advises, “I would speak to somebody in another organisation. If you try to go it alone and wade through the paperwork, you’d never get anywhere…”

In the meantime, Harry is understandably proud that his job is helping to make a difference.

“I know we’re not patient-saving heroes [in finance] but we’re all part of the same machine. When you work at the NHS, everybody knows who they are. It’s a real privilege to work for them.”

Christian Koch is an award-winning journalist/editor who has written for the Evening Standard, Sunday Times, Guardian, Telegraph, The Independent, Q, The Face and Metro. He's also written about business for Accounting Technician, 20 and Director, where he is contributing editor.