The UK’s leading independent provider of mental health services, which partnered with the University of Bolton to provide a course to tackle a nationwide nurse shortage, has welcomed a record number of new "home-grown" nurses.

On International Nurses’ Day, today, Friday May 12, Priory’s Cheadle Royal Hospital is celebrating a new milestone - with a record 25 employees completing their apprenticeships to become fully-fledged mental health nurses.

And due to a national shortage of nurses, especially in mental health, Priory is trying to recruit innovatively.

The service provider wanted to tackle this and launched a nurse degree apprenticeship course in partnership with the University of Bolton, which offers colleagues the chance to achieve the industry-recognised standards and qualifications to become a nurse.

So far, Priory has supported more than 200 colleagues onto the course, and in the past nine months has seen the first of those qualify and move on to their nursing career.

The apprenticeship includes elements of on-the-job and off-the-job training with 25 of the apprentices working as nurses at Cheadle, which is Priory’s largest hospital and treats more than 500 patients a year.

Nine will be fully qualified nurses by August, and 16 more will complete their nurse training by September 2025.

Carel Strydom, Priory career and apprenticeships manager, said: “It’s such an exciting opportunity for our nurse apprentices as, in two years’ time, we’ll be in a position where we’ll have more than 200 home-grown nurses.”

Priory, the UK’s largest independent mental health and social care provider, is urging anyone considering a nursing or occupational therapist career, especially if they are local to Cheadle, to consider its Nurse and Occupational Therapist Degree Apprenticeship programmes.

To qualify, apprentices must be existing staff members who have been at Priory for at least a year and eligible to meet the degree entry requirements (Maths and English at Level 2 (equivalent to a GCSE Grade C), and a full Level 3 qualification achieved in further education).

Anyone joining Cheadle as a healthcare assistant or occupational therapy assistant, who passes their probation and completes one year’s service at the hospital, may be eligible to apply.

Colin Quick, Priory’s chief quality officer and chief nurse, added: “I am so proud of the work we have done as an organisation to support so many people to achieve their ambition of being a registered nurse.

“I’m always going to be rather biased, but I firmly believe it to be the most rewarding and fulfilling job anyone can do.”

Priory, which has sites across the UK, cares for more than 25,000 people a year, and achieves positive outcomes every day for those entrusted to its care.

The overwhelming majority of its 300 plus sites are rated "good" or better by independent regulators.

While attracting and retaining staff is a challenge throughout the healthcare sector, Priory has increased its permanent headcount in the last 12 months by 726 more nurses and healthcare assistants and support workers, who are all paid at least the Real Living Wage, alongside nurses whose pay has increased by, on average, 14 per cent since January 2020.

Anyone interested in joining Priory, and pursuing an apprenticeship, should contact jobs@priorygroup.com or visit the Priory jobs website.