Health Education England (HEE) has launched a training course aimed at preparing nurses to get into careers as general practice nurses.
The programme is aimed at making a career as general practice nurse more accessible and hopes to improve understanding and awareness of what is involved in general practice and to encourage pre-registration nurses to see the ‘value and potential’ of a career in this area.
Hilary Garratt, deputy chief nursing officer for NHS England, said: ‘Nurses play a vital role in General Practice and it’s important that those who are considering a career in primary care have the information and training they need to put themselves forward.’
Adding: ‘we hope nurses of all levels of experience who want to explore this option will take up the new training on offer.’
HEE says that the training module was developed after the body received feedback suggesting that many applicants were struggling to pass recruitment processes for roles in general practice.
Professor Simon Gregory, a GP and medical director of primary and integrated care at HEE, said: ‘We know that people interested in this career have faced challenges when applying for vacancies.
‘Being able to evidence understanding of work in these areas is an important part of the application process so this training module has been developed to provide support with this.
‘We want GPs/general practice employers and others in Primary Care to be aware of this module – we hope it will help them in recruiting general practice nurses, and that they will notice a difference when applicants have taken this training.’
Feedback was received from a steering group made up of stakeholders such as the Queen’s Nursing Institute, Royal College of Nurses, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and general practices nurses and nursing associates.
Where is the course available?
This module is available at seven universities across the UK:
– Birmingham City University
– Northumbria University
– Sheffield Hallam University
– Teesside University
– University of Cumbria
– University of Derby
– University of Salford
This course, titled Discovering a Nursing Career in General Practice, is part of a series of training modules endorsed by chief nurse Ruth May.
The training course is open to nurses at all levels of their career from pre-registration up through registered nurses working in different fields.
Training will involve a number of different techniques, ranging from face to face learning to virtual reality simulated training and will cover topics including how the role fits within the multi-disciplinary team, developing one-to-one communications skills and understanding how to operate in a primary care environment.
