The Genix Healthcare Apprenticeship Program: a Great Chance at a Good Career

Dental nursing is a second career for Joanne Whiteoak, and one that she’d been meaning to get into for quite a while. But when the 28-year-old quit her job in the travel sector to pursue her dream, she found that it wasn’t easy to convince dental companies to give you a chance if you haven’t got the experience.

That is, until she got in touch with Genix Healthcare.

“Genix Healthcare was the first company to see the potential in me, and with them I’ve done really well. They’ve been very supportive in my path to becoming a dental nurse.”

Joanne is among the first group of nurses to graduate from the Genix Healthcare Apprenticeship Program, a scheme that was launched in late 2011 to provide training and employment opportunities for those interested in joining the dental profession. Through the £250,000 project, Genix Healthcare owner Mustafa Mohammed hopes to raise the standards of dental care in the country.

The first group of apprentices saw around 70% of its graduates go on to find positions in the Genix Healthcare system; the apprenticeship is not only an excellent training course, it’s also a great career path for aspiring dental care professionals nationwide.

Apprentices who join the program are placed in Genix Healthcare clinics, where they train from 18 to 24 months under the supervision of qualified nurses and dental practitioners before going on to graduate.

Joanne found working within the Genix Healthcare system enjoyable and rewarding. “It was a really good experience, personally I think it’s the best way to learn. Everybody was really friendly and there was always somebody there to support me.” Though the newly qualified nurse wouldn’t describe the training as easy, she found the challenge of mastering a new profession and the accomplishment she felt from acquiring critical skills invaluable.

“If you have a patient in the chair and you’re working with a dentist, it could be quite panicky, for example if you didn’t have the right materials ready,” Joanne recalls. “I think it just boils down to a lack of knowledge at the time, but obviously that’s something you learn and become more confident with as time goes on. Not knowing things at the beginning can be quite hard, but there’s nothing you can do about that, you just have to keep at it.”

She also feels that she received a lot support from Genix Healthcare to help her finish the program and receive her qualification. The program allotted a certain number of hours during the apprentice’s workdays for course work and examinations, and when Joanne had any questions at all, the staff in the clinic she was working at were always wiling to help her out. Genix Healthcare also regularly held individual assessments with their apprentices to make sure they were mastering their skills correctly and completing the program at a good pace.

But although a lot of support can be expected from the company and the staff, Jo feels that those interested in taking this course should have some degree of self-sufficiency as well.

“The coursework we needed to do was really good, but you do have to have a lot of self-motivation to get some things done before the deadline. Unlike a classroom setting where you have the teacher in front of you, you’re left to your own devices more when learning through webinars and Skype sessions,” Joanne advises. “You just need a certain amount of discipline, but you need that anyway if you want to become a dental professional.”

Joanne also very much enjoyed the working environment she encountered in Genix Healthcare, as she found everyone to be friendly and respectful. Joanne says, “What I find in Genix is there’s no divide between dentists and nurses – we’re all the same and we all treat each other with the same respect.”

Joanne feels that the program has helped her grow as a professional, and is now a hundred percent more confident in her work than when she first started. She is currently speaking with Genix Healthcare senior management about furthering her education with courses on sedation and oral surgery. She maintains that the big career change she decided to make has been one of the best decisions in her life, and Genix Healthcare is very much to thank for their part in that.

Soon, Genix Healthcare will be offering more opportunities like this to new apprentices. The program hopes to see one hundred more dental nurses graduate in the next two years, and recruitment for new groups of apprentices will be happening soon.

Joanne would recommend a career in dental nursing to anyone who wants to join the dental profession.

“Dental nursing is a great career where you can do something very fulfilling and worthwhile, and you can feel like you’re giving back to the community. It’s also something that you can build on – you can start as a dental nurse then there are so many different qualifications you can do to add on to that. There are so many routes you can go down, you can go through to practice management for example, or become a dental hygienist or a therapist. Dental nursing is definitely a good start for someone who’s interested in learning and working their way up.”

Genix Healthcare is passionate about giving young career starters the chance to improve themselves and their quality of life through excellent qualifications and good careers. Just recently, the company sponsored the Yorkshire and the Humber regional heat of the National Apprenticeship Awards 2013.

Genix Healthcare hopes that through sponsorships such as these and through its own apprenticeship projects, it can raise the standard of young professionals not only in dentistry, but in other industries as well.

For additional information please call 0845 838 1122, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit www.genixhealthcare.com