About us

We are Northamptonshire Health and Care Careers Academy and we have pulled together lots of information to encourage the next generation of health and social care workers.

Who we are

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Who we are 

Northamptonshire Health and Care Careers Academy exists to encourage the next generation of health and social care workers. It brings together health and care organisations from across the county. The Academy offers easy access to the wide variety of careers and programmes available.

We are part of Integrated Care Northamptonshire, consisting of key health and care organisations in the county. These include:

  • Our general hospitals
  • Community health services
  • GP practices
  • Social care
  • Local government
  • Voluntary and community services
  • Ambulance service
  • Health and care commissioners

We work together to offer health and care services to those living in Northamptonshire.

How we can help you

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How we can help you

This section of our website is for teachers and careers. It has everything you need to know about health and social care careers in one place. There is information to support conversations with post-16 choices and next steps, including college, sixth form and university. Plus, there is information on specific roles in health and care, as well as the subjects needed to gain entry.

The site also refers to the Gatsby benchmarks, explaining how these are met. Plus, there is local labour information and more. We want this to be your localised one-stop-shop of information!

Supporting widening participation

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Supporting widening participation

Nationally there is a drive to engage with schools and communities to build a diverse healthcare team. In Northamptonshire we work with young people regardless of social background who are interested in health and care work. We are working hard to make sure disadvantaged young people can access opportunities and overcome any barriers by seeking to tackle problems through action.

We are working with the following underrepresented groups across Northamptonshire:

  • People within areas of high social deprivation (Wellingborough, Corby, Kettering, Northampton)
  • Households on a single income with dependent children
  • Those in and coming out of the care system
  • Households with access to food vouchers
  • People with disabilities, mental and physical health conditions or learning difficulties
  • Ethnic minority groups (focus on young black/black British in Northamptonshire)
  • Returners to work with caring responsibilities
  • Some people aged 50 or over with low levels of transferable and digital skills
  • Individuals who are homeless or in temporary accommodation
  • Unemployed
  • Ex-offenders

Building on strong relationships with education and local government, we're looking to offer new opportunities for these groups. We now offer the NHS Cadets programme alongside St John Ambulance and NHS England. This supports 14- to 16-year-olds that sit within the above underrepresented groups and plan to expand this offer early 2022.

Our commitment

There is something for everyone in health and care. We are here to help young people recognise their talents, interests and aspiration and to help them start their health and care journey with us.

Aim

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Aim

Our aim is to celebrate and showcase health and social care careers across Northamptonshire. We want to inspire, educate and empower our future workers. There are varied routes into careers, and we're broadening the pre-employment experiences available. We need talented and diverse people that can give high-quality, person-centred and innovative care in our communities.

Vision

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Vision

  1. Raise the profile of local health and social care employers, attract diverse people, and increase the number of people starting a journey with us
  2. Improve the efficiency of our people development. We will share skills, learning from each other and using best practice models suited to the Partnership.
  3. Teach future staff the skills to do the job at hand
  4. Enable joint working, develop networks and new opportunities

Our objectives

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Our objectives

Grow our career routes, opportunities and apprenticeship programmes acrossNorthamptonshire Health and Care Partnership's (NHCP) health and social care employers.

Raise the profile of roles within health and social care, as well as the skills, qualities and values needed.

Offer relevant and accessible information and support for aspiring health and social care professionals and careers advisors.

Widen the opportunities for other routes into careers such as volunteering, part-time/flexible work, work experience and other key programmes.

Work together to offer joint career engagement activities. Build getting experience opportunities across NHCP  that meet everyone's needs.

Increase the number of people entering health and social care roles and the routes into employment.

To create a passionate network of ambassadors across the NHCP that educates and promotes opportunities

Help to develop resilient people, capable of adapting to new roles, developments, and problems across the industry.

Upskill and empower under-represented groups to widen the talent and diversity of our staff

Support activities across NHCP and help to meet learning and development needs

Gatsby benchmarks and local labour market information

We support learning as part of the everyday routine. We inspire, nurture, and grow the next generation workforce in line with the Gatsby benchmarks. It’s more important than ever for young people to understand, aspire to and be ready for jobs in our sector.

About Gatbsy benchmarks

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About Gatsby benchmarks

The Gatsby benchmarks were developed by Sir John Holman for the Gatsby Foundation. They aimed to highlight what ‘good career work’ looked like. They offer a clear way to organise career services at your school or college. Accepted as best practice by the Government, each school, special school or colleges is responsible for using the benchmarks.

Our work and Gatsby benchmarks

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Our work and Gatsby benchmarks

The 8 Gatsby benchmarks are included below and the areas our work supports are highlighted in bold:

1. A stable careers programme

2. Learning from career and labour market information  - check out our information about this on the teachers and career leads page! 

3. Addressing the needs of each pupil

4. Linking subjects to careers

5. Encounters with employers and employees

6. Experiences of workplaces

7. Encounters with further and higher education

8. Personal guidance

Importance of health and social care careers

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Importance of health and social care careers

Northamptonshire's health and social care organisations are important for our local community. We are one of the largest employers across the county, employing over 43,000 people. We are committed to our social responsibility, acting as an ‘anchor institution’ for the people of Northamptonshire.

COVID-19 has been difficult for everyone. It has impacted many industries, including travel, tourism, hospitality, and entertainment. However, COVID-19 has led to an increased focus and interest in health and social care work. Many individuals from these industries have key transferrable skills, suited to roles within health and social care.

With this and an ageing local population, it is more important than ever for young people to understand, aspire to and be ready for jobs in the health and care sector.

Skills shortages

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Skills shortages

Ageing populations impact health and care organisations across the country. All areas experience skills shortages and significant gaps in occupations.

We experience both need and growth across our occupations and vacancies, along with sectors such as logistics, education and digital construction. In Northamptonshire, we expect skills shortages in the following occupations:

  1. Registered nurses
  2. Care assistants
  3. Psychology and psychiatry
  4. Doctors
  5. Endoscopists and radiographers
  6. Biomedical scientists

Further information can be found here: Analysis of Occupation Demand in the Health and Care Sector in the South East Midlands.

For further careers guidance for the above ‘occupations in need’ click on the link for advice on qualifications and skills required: Explore roles | Health Careers.

There is definitely something for everyone: scientists, mathematicians, engineers, nurses, leaders, designers, and professional trade as well as those who have been traditionally attracted to health and care professions.

Labour market information

Useful links

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Useful links

The ask programme

Additional information about the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge in schools and colleges (ASK) programme and the support available.

T Levels resources for teachers and career leads

Resources to help you understand the new courses and be able to engage with parents and pupils about T Levels.