‘Appealing’ opportunities needed to bring student nurses into community

More opportunities in community nursing are needed to draw student nurses into community roles to deliver neighbourhood health plans, a charity leader has said.

Paul Farmer, chief executive at Age UK, told Nursing in Practice that student nurses should be given more placements and training in community and district nurse posts.

He was speaking shortly after the government confirmed that general practice nurses (GPNs) and community nurses will help make up ‘neighbourhood health teams’ across 43 services in England.

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The neighbourhood health plan was first set out in the government’s manifesto as part of a drive to deliver more care within local communities and to shift resources to primary care and community services.

‘The shift from hospital to community is a really key part of freeing up beds in the system and reducing the A&E admissions,’ he said.

‘Time in the community should be prioritised as a really good experience for student nurses that could be really beneficial to their careers,’ Mr Farmer told Nursing in Practice.

Mr Farmer believes that community placements are especially important given the likely increased role of nurses in delivering the 10 Year Health Plan.

‘I know that lots of people get a lot of satisfaction from fulfilling district and community nursing roles, and delivering the 10 Year Plan will demand the creation of more roles in these areas,’ he said.

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However, he added that he had ‘anecdotally’ heard how older people were finding district and community nursing teams harder to access.

‘There’s a sense that there are fewer community nurses around, and so it’s important to encourage the idea of working in the community as being attractive, appealing and highly rewarding,’ Mr Farmer continued.

The government’s plan for the NHS, launched in July, includes changes to nursing, including more nursing apprenticeships and expanded advanced practice roles.

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Last month, the government launched the ‘Graduate Guarantee’ for nursing and midwifery, and committed to providing more jobs for newly qualified nurses and midwives by converting existing healthcare assistant vacancies into registered nurse posts.

In July, Skills for Care and the Council of Deans launched a government-funded strategy  that aims to ‘embed’ adult social care placements in nursing degrees and encourage more nursing students to work in the sector.