NURSING has gone back to the future with news that nearly 60 students have started a Trainee Nursing Associate course at the University of Worcester.
Supported by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (WAHT) and Worcestershire Health and Care Trust the new ‘Nurse Associates’ will follow a two-year foundation degree to play a crucial role of filling a gap in skills between current health care assistants and registered nurses.
Many might see the ‘new’ role as very much an old one – carried out by the old State Enrolled Nurses, a level which was dismantled dearly two decades ago in an effort to make nursing a degree only profession.
WAHT is currently short of some 200 nurses and once they have completed their course, the Nurse Associates will be able to work in NHS hospitals working alongside both health care assistants and qualified nurses to deliver high quality patient care.
Ally Middleton, practice facilitator at WAHT said: “This new nursing role is really important for Worcestershire and for the future care of our patients. It is vital to give a new generation of staff the enhanced education and skills required to deliver great, hands-on care to all patients. The work-based learning programme taking place in clinical areas, will give our trainees the perfect experience to help shape them in to this future role.”
The first Nurse Associates in Worcestershire will finish their studies and qualify in April 2019, after which they will be able to work in local NHS hospitals.
