IT Service Desk Apprentice

**About Us:**
East Kent Hospitals are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with three acute hospitals and community sites serving a local population of 700,000. We also provide specialist services for Kent & Medway.

We care about our patients and our people. We are focused on providing outstanding, safe patient care, and a positive working culture that benefits staff and patients alike. With our emphasis on staff training and development, a staff support scheme that’ssecond to none, and a healthy package of benefits, it’s easy to put down roots in East Kent Hospitals.

**Overview**:
The IT Service Desk Team is the first line of IT support provided to our colleagues working across the East Kent Hospitals Trust. We strive to give the best support we can and minimise any interruptions to the service.

Working within the IT Service Desk team gives you the opportunity to tackle a wide variety of challenges offered by a busy and ever-changing work environment where communication is key, be it with our end-users or other colleagues within the IT department.

**Benefits:**
**We offer a full package of benefits, including:**
- A car lease scheme
- On-site childcare
- Generous annual leave in line with NHS terms and conditions
- High street and public transport discounts
- A 24/7 staff support service
- And the little things that make life easier, like on-site Amazon lockers and fresh fruit and veg stalls

**Role Specific Duties**:

- The IT Service Desk Apprentice position offers a unique opportunity to learn a wide range of IT related skills used within the National Health Service.
- The applicant will deal with a wide range of IT equipment and systems including desktop PC’s, laptops, phones, printers etc.
- Our in-house IT department allows for staff members to expose themselves to specialised third line teams and the wide variety of jobs available within IT.

As a member of the Service Desk team you would be the frontline of the IT department, working to keep our ever-important NHS services and colleagues working with mínimal disruption.

**The IT Service Desk Apprentice will be expected to**:

- Provide remote telephone support to staff from EKHUFT and external parties, using remote services to troubleshoot and resolve any issue that may come your way.
- Analyse issues and diagnose to the best of their ability whilst keeping note of all information and, if unable to resolve upon first contact, raising a support ticket to pass to the relevant team that can help.
- Work in a fast-paced team of 10-15 within a larger IT department of over 100 staff.
- Provide a high-quality customer service and technical advisory service to desktop users, resolve problems, maintain continuity of service and provide appropriate information and guidance, in order to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction and helpensure that the level of service and support matches or exceeds user expectations.
- Get involved in projects to audit, replace or upgrade equipment as part of an ongoing improvement to our service.
- Integrate with the team and the larger IT department, and find your path for career progression and an exciting career within IT.

**Entry requirements**:

- GCSE Maths and English (or equivalents) at grades 3+ (D or above)

You may also have a combination of qualifications and experience which demonstrate the minimum foundation needed for the programme. In this instance you could still be considered for the programme.

**Find out more here:**

**Your Commitments**:
We are focused on providing outstanding, safe patient care, and a positive working culture that benefits staff and patients alike.
**This is why we ask you to: **
- Maintain the confidentiality of information about patients, staff and other health service business and adhere to data protection law
- Comply with the Trust’s policies and procedures, including infection prevention and control, risk management, health and safety, safeguarding children and adults, financial management and use of resources
- Act at all times in accordance with the professional Codes of Conduct and Accountability relevant to your role
- Participate in annual mandatory training.

**Values**:
We care about our values of caring, safe, respect and making a difference. We’ll ask you to demonstrate these values during the recruitment process and throughout your appointment - and you can expect us to do the same.

**Salary**:
Your salary will be based on the Apprentice Minimum Wage for the first 12 months, and then increased to National Minimum Wage for your age.

**Future prospects:**
With our career progression pathways, you can take your learning as far as you want - all the way from a Level 3 apprenticeship to a Bachelor or Masters degree, completely debt-free.
90% of QA apprentices secure permanent employment after completing: this is 20% higher than the national average.

**Important Information:**
QA’s apprenticeships are funded by the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), an executive agency of the Department for Education.
To be eligible for a Government funded apprenticeship you must have lived in the UK or European Economic Area (EEA) for the last 3 consecutive years.