OVERVIEW
Health Education England North Central and East London (HEE NCEL) has set a strategic priority to increase the number of existing practice nurses who are qualified at graduate or post graduate level. The aim is to ensure there are enough nurses working in primary care who are able to fulfil the full range of generalist and advanced roles in practice nursing whilst providing quality nursing care at the highest standard.
To achieve this, funding has been made available to support post-registration nurses wishing to train as practice nurses. Newham Together is the Newham Training Hub (formerly the Community Education Provider Network CEPN), hosted by WEL Clinical Commissioning Group, and administers and facilitates this activity via its Practice Nurse Development Programme (PNDP).
For more information contact Amira Iddi (amiratu.iddi@nhs.net), Practice Nurse Development Facilitator
Programme Overview
Our partner HEI is City University and the training programme runs for two years. Courses are structured according to individual HEI programmes but all course elements have a firm foundation in public health improvement and provide a portfolio of skills and academic qualifications within a programme specifically designed to meet the needs of patients and practices in London.
Tuition fees are fully funded by HEE and paid directly to the university.
Support for Learning
Throughout the training period practices will release the trainee for the equivalent of up to 1 day per week to attend course modules, private study to complete required assignments and to attend Training Hub sessions and/or any other related learning and development activity relevant to the overall training. This time should also include up to 2 hours per week (max) to meet with their appointed supervisor. This is protected study/development time.
For the remaining time the trainee practice nurse will be required to be in the practice and undertake such responsibilities and tasks that can reasonably be expected based on existing or newly gained competencies, as agreed between the trainee and their mentor.
Practice teams will also be expected to provide in-house support from senior clinical nurses and other staff, as well as an on-site practice nurse supervisor to support the trainee’s learning programme.
In addition a Practice Nurse Development Facilitator from Newham will support and advise trainees, and will work in conjunction with practice-based staff regarding supervision support or learning issues.
Trainee practice nurses will be asked to sign a learning agreement and are expected to progress and attain skills at an acceptable pace during the year and to perform well academically.
Applications and Selection
Applications for the programme are invited via NHS Jobs, with the advert going out Jul/Aug with interviews in Sep/Oct ready for the start of training in early February.
In order to be considered for the programme:
- You must be a qualified nurse and be registered on Part 1 or Part 2 of the NMC register
- You will also need to provide evidence that you have undertaken study in the past 5 years (including assessment results)
- You will need to commit to a two-year training programme
Employment & Salary
Successful participants will be employed directly by a Newham-based practice on a two-year fixed-term contract, with released time out of the practice for course attendance and study leave. Occasionally practices may offer permanent employment, but they are not obliged to do so.
Trainees work a minimum of 22.5 hours a week (3 days) in the practice with a maximum of 1 day a week for course attendance, study leave, development sessions with their mentor and any other course/lecture based training. Trainees should be prepared to travel into and work anywhere in the borough.
GP practices are not bound by Agenda for Change pay scales but are strongly urged to offer salaries aligned to AfC Band 5 (for newly qualified) or Band 6 (for experienced nurses). The minimum salary we recommend is £28,000 pa.
HEE provide funding for a contribution to host practices towards the trainee’s salary for the duration of the training period. It does not cover the full costs, so the practices provide the balance.
After Training
Host practices are encouraged to offer full time permanent employment after the training is successfully completed and trainees are strongly encouraged to accept this to gain as much experience in the role as possible before considering future options.
Support after training is provided via the Training Hub’s preceptorship scheme, as well as through the GPN Forum which meets monthly; there is also the opportunity to attend training for clinical professionals across the NEL boroughs.
How to Apply?
If you are interested in the programme, please contact Amira Iddi (amiratu.iddi@nhs.net), Practice Nurse Development Facilitator.