STORY: Kingsmill commits to health care worker funding for third year
Kingsmill has announced that, for the third year running, it will be investing in its local communities by funding primary care workers’ training.
Since the programme started, Kingsmill has met the full training costs for 16 healthcare roles, including health care support workers and nursing associates in Greater Manchester and Staffordshire, with eight further roles in Lincolnshire now agreed.
The programme has allowed people who are inspired to make a difference by helping others to advance their careers and gain new skills, while giving much-needed support to the NHS across the UK.
The Kingsmill-funded training comes through an initiative between Health Education England, the National Skills Academy for Food & Drink and British food and drink companies - in this instance Kingsmill’s parent company Allied Bakeries.
The scheme sees the companies’ own unused apprenticeship levy funds being redirected to pay to train new NHS health and social care workers.
The funding from Kingsmill is used for trainee health and care workers across care homes and doctors surgeries in the UK. Training courses typically involve two-to-three years combined university study and on the job training.
“The whole ethos behind our Kingsmill Kindness campaign is to give back to our bakeries’ local communities and we do that in a number of ways - from making food donations, to supporting community groups and local sports teams," comments Emma Eggleton, head of marketing for Kingsmill.
"However, like our partnership with Save The Children, the apprenticeship levy scheme allows us to give back on a far larger scale. We are all aware of the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had on primary care NHS workers, and we are delighted to be helping grow these services for the future. We wish our newest apprentices all the very best with their training and are excited to see all they go on to achieve.”
Removing the pressure on GPs
Darren Altus, operations director at K2 Healthcare, a federation of 16 GP Practices, explains what the funding means to the NHS and how it is benefiting Kingsmill bakeries’ local communities: “Primary care resources have never been so squeezed," he says.
"Being able to offer advanced training for nurses allows us to deliver more integrated care whilst removing some of the pressures placed on GP surgeries. For example, our latest apprentice recruits will go on to perform routine nursing tasks, run their own immunisation clinics while immediately putting into practice new skills via on the job training. The funding from Kingsmill is a great help for the NHS at a time when it’s never needed it more.”
The latest round of funding has allowed the Kingsmill depot in Lincoln to help eight trainees, including Helen Marshall from Boston, to grow their careers.
Helen will be training to work at St Peter’s Hill Surgery and said: “I recently turned 40 and have been looking for new work opportunities that will give me the chance to develop my career further over the coming years.
"I’m really looking forward to being able to support St Peter’s Hill Surgery in Grantham and eventually be able to run my own clinics taking blood and giving babies their immunisations.”
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