The first cohort on the University’s Registered Nurse Degree Apprenticeship, the 42 apprentices, 29 in the field of adult nursing and 13 in mental health, work for Cygnet Healthcare, University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust and Practice Plus Group’s (Health in Justice), who all worked in collaboration with the University to develop the programme – with input from service users and current UCB nursing students and apprentices.
Crucially, the new programme enables students to qualify in 18 months compared with the three years it would take to complete a registered nurse degree from scratch.
Marina Kendrick, director of healthcare workforce development and apprenticeship said; “Upskilling registered nursing associates into full registered nurses was imperative to meet spiralling regional demand of Registered Healthcare practitioners.
Reduce waiting
“There are around 48,000 nursing vacancies waiting to be filled nationwide, with 19 per cent of these in the West Midlands
“Registered Nursing Associates bridge the gap between healthcare support workers and Registered Nurses to reduce waiting times, delivering hands-on, person-centred care as part of a multidisciplinary team.”
She added “The programme enables the apprentice to be able to carry out the full range of complex nursing tasks such as managing effective patient care, broaden their clinical proficiencies and leadership skills to be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Mental health is also an important field of nursing, and we need to ensure we can build a badly-needed workforce of qualified nurses in this area.”
To find out more contact University College Birmingham Marina at m.kendrick@ucb.ac.uk
If you are an employer who is interested in recruiting an apprentice or upskilling your employees telephone 03332 409699.
