Totnes-based Newcross Healthcare - the leading independent organisation that provides highly trained staff, clinical expertise and administrative support to help care for sick and vulnerable people – has become the very first care provider in the country to be certified as an End Point Assessment (EPA) organisation for apprenticeships in the UK.

The organisation has been approved by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (EFSA) as an EPA assessor for ‘Lead Adult Care Worker’ and ‘Adult Care Worker’ standards.

EPAs provide apprentices with a series of tests at the end of their apprenticeship to assess the knowledge, skills and behaviours they have learned throughout their programme and evaluates their ability to do the job they are training for.

Only organisations on the Government’s register of end-point assessment organisations are eligible to conduct independent end-point assessment of apprentices.

As one of the UK’s leading providers of specialist clinical training, Newcross Healthcare is ideally placed to be a registered, independent apprenticeship EPA. For over a decade, the organisation has delivered between 150 and 200 in-house training courses to over 1,000 nurses and healthcare assistants each month.

Head of EPA's and Apprenticeships, Kelly-Marie Harris, said:

“Apprenticeships have always played a vital role in supporting the development of our organisation. We are 100% committed to fostering the first-class standards of caring practice and helping individuals to reach their highest potential in a trusting and compassionate environment.

“We have a workforce of over 7,000 people and many of them have already completed their level 2 and 3 Adult Care Worker apprenticeship. This places us at a significant advantage as an EPA organisation, as we understand the exacting requirements needed to pass the assessment and the depth and breadth of knowledge required.

“We are proud to be an EPA organisation allowing us to continue to improve the quality and raise the value of apprenticeships while ensuring the very highest standards are met throughout the care sector.”

Newcross Healthcare has a clear company focus on growth education and development and is committed to helping nurture and develop individuals with potential in their careers.

It currently has 231 healthcare apprenticeships running nationwide and its average retention rate on health and social care apprenticeship courses is 89%, 17% higher than the national average.