Find out if you qualify for our Nursing Apprentice programme where you will gain a Nursing Degree while working at one of our 35 England based Spire hospitals.
Applications for the 2021 Spire Healthcare and Sunderland University Nurse Apprentice programme are now closed, but you can still register your interest in future nurse apprentice programmes, along with Healthcare Assistant and other non-clinical positions, within our 39 private hospitals across the UK.
As a minimum, you will need to be aged 18 or over, hold Maths and English GCSEs (A to C/9 to 4) or equivalent eg functional skills. Additionally, you will need one of the following:
For the four year pathway:
For the five year pathway:
*If you are unsure how many UCAS points you have, please check using the UCAS tariff calculator.
Accrediting Prior Learning (APL)
Joining a Nursing Apprenticeship programme with completed healthcare learning qualifications might reduce the length of your degree programme and is called accrediting prior learning (APL).
A qualified Nurse Associate for example will complete a Nurse Degree Apprenticeship in two, rather than four years. If you have gained another type of healthcare qualification at foundation/degree level, you might also qualify for a potential reduction in course length. However, due to the number of differing curriculums taught in universities, we can only advise on potential reductions in length at the application stage. If you are offered a place on the Nurse Apprenticeship programme, you will undertake a number of detailed skills scans to match your existing learning to the Nursing curriculum as part of the entry process. Only at this point can the length of the degree programme be confirmed and sadly not before.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council’s guidelines state we can only accredit prior learning if qualifications match/align to the Nursing curriculum. Sadly, we cannot reduce the length of your programme unless you hold a healthcare related qualification.
If you think anything you have read so far interests you, we want to hear from you and we are looking for applicants who:
Whatever your background, we encourage you to apply as long as you meet the minimum criteria.
If you are the parent/carer of a school leaver and want to know more about Apprenticeships before your school leaver applies please view our parents/carers guide.
The course fees for this degree apprenticeship programme are £27,000 and are fully met by Spire Healthcare; we will take care of this for you.
This role provides you with a permanent position within Spire Healthcare from the day you join the programme; 26 July 2021.
We want you to stay with us once you graduate and enjoy a long and fulfilling career here at Spire. In your first year of Nursing we work to build your clinical confidence through our preceptorship programme which will help you make the transition from Nurse Apprentice and develop your practice further. On graduation you will be allocated a qualified and experienced practitioner to guide and support you in the first year post qualification while you find your feet.
Beyond the preceptorship we will give you the opportunity to grow and develop your career with us. Your career progression is facilitated by us, but led by you. As you develop your skills you can progress into other areas of Nursing such as a leadership role or, if you prefer, you can develop your specialisms further. Here are just a few progression routes you could consider:
We are offering a number of roles at each of our England based hospitals. Enter a postcode or town, to find the nearest Spire hospital.
Below is a full list of our England based Spire hospitals, where you can take part in our Nursing Apprenticeship programme:
When considering if Nursing is right for you, you should ask yourself the following questions:
Applications for the 2021 course are now closed, but you can still register your interest in future nurse apprentice programmes: Register today
We've designed an application process to support you in showing us your potential. At every stage of the process, you will be assessed against the key skills you need to be a Nurse:
We will use Spire's values to assess you against the initial phase of your application which are:
Driving clinical excellence
Doing the right thing
Caring is our passion
Keeping it simple
Delivering on our promises
Succeeding and celebrating together
In the final stage of the application process we will look to assess you against the 6 C’s of Nursing. For more information on the 6C’s see the section on 'Assessment centre'.
Our whole application process is now virtual, we want you to be fully prepared to successfully complete all the stages of the application. As you move through each stage of the application process, our Recruitment Team will be in touch to explain the next steps. If you need any additional support during the process including extra time, please let us know.
Our competency based interview approach has been designed to find out more about you. Our friendly interviewers will ask you a number of questions focusing on our Spire values. We want you to give examples of how you have behaved in given situations as we know how you have tackled things in the past will demonstrate how you might approach thing in the future. Our questions could include asking about how you helped someone who needs support or how you have you have worked as part of a team to complete a task.
As the course will require you to write assignments and meet deadlines we want to assess your written ability at this stage of the process. The written assessment will comprise of a short task designed to see how you might structure a written piece and how you use research/critical thinking skills in a written task. Don’t worry, we don’t expect you to be fully competent in writing at this stage of your career but we need to know how you might go about completing a task of this nature and what development needs you may have.
Here we outline briefly the 6Cs, but you might want to do your own research – there’s lots of information available online. Find out more information on the 6Cs.
Care
This means putting high quality care at the centre of all work and practices. It means consistently delivering care that is focused on the individual and promotes their health and wellbeing. Additionally, it means delivering care that is right for each individual, at the right time, at every stage of their life.
For example, providing care to a person and listening to their wishes, being considerate to their beliefs, treating them with dignity, and working in accordance with best interests.
Compassion
Compassion means delivering care with empathy, respect, and dignity, recognising people’s emotions, and forming relationships with patients based on empathy. It can also be thought of as ‘intelligent kindness’ – recognising emotions and responding with kindness – and is an important part of how people perceive their care.
Competence
Competence means that all those in caring roles must have the ability to understand the health and social needs of each individual. It also means having the expertise, clinical knowledge, and technical knowledge to deliver care treatments that are effective and based on research and evidence.
Communication
Communication is an essential part of any caring relationship and effective team. Compassion in Practice establishes the quote ‘no decision about me without me’, and communicating well is an important way of ensuring that this is always the case.
Courage
Courage means doing the right thing, speaking up when there are concerns and having the strength and vision to innovate and work in new, different ways. Courage is important to ensure that everyone gets the quality of care that they deserve. It means putting the patient first and being brave enough to call out when something is wrong.
Commitment
The final one of the 6Cs refers to having a commitment to patients and the community and putting this at the centre of work. Your patients and their care should be your priority. Being highly committed to them helps to improve their quality of care and experience as well as that of other patients. Commitment also means being committed to the job role.