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RCN head of policy says costs of nurse training pilot are prohibitive Exclusive by Christian Duffin A quarter of the 250 prospective nursing students recruited to a national training pilot set up to give them up to a year’s caring experience have not pursued nursing as a career, Nursing Standard has learned. Health Education England (HEE) said 12 per cent of those recruited to work as band 2 healthcare assistants (HCAs) on a salary of £14,000 for up to a year dropped out of the programme early. The HEE was unable to confirm what the remaining 13 per cent had decided to do. The HEE said last week that more would-be nurses will be recruited in October and February next year to a second phase of the pilot. In May last year, health secretary Jeremy Hunt said that all aspiring nursing students should work for up to a year as HCAs before starting nurse training. He said it would test whether they had the right values of compassion and empathy to be nurses.
But the plan attracted criticism and raised concerns about the feasibility of providing tens of thousands of prospective nursing students with jobs as HCAs. An HEE spokesperson said several benefits had emerged from an ongoing evaluation of the pilot. It has allowed aspiring nurses to gain experience and improve their chances of getting on nursing degree courses, as well as helping them to decide whether nursing is for them, the spokesperson added.
Valuable experience
The training pilot has enabled employers to ‘recruit outstanding candidates to work for them as HCAs’, and possibly come back to them as nurses after completing their degree. Three would-be nurses joined the pilot managed by Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust. Two have been accepted on to nursing degrees, while the third is currently applying. Bethany Ainscombe, who has started her degree course at the University
of East Anglia, said: ‘Before the pilot started I wanted to apply for nursing, but had no experience. I was worried that it may not be what I had in mind, but actually it has helped me realise how much I love caring for people.’ Monica Fletcher, a nurse and chief executive of the Education for Health training company, said: ‘Anything that encourages someone to go into nursing is a good thing, but we have a shortage of nurses and it will be more difficult to attract them if the HCA course becomes compulsory.’ RCN head of policy Howard Catton said: ‘The costs are prohibitive to run courses like this for everyone who might be thinking about nursing. There are other ways for people to gauge whether it might be a career for them – such as how they viewed their experiences of caring for a relative. There are learning experiences from the pilot, though – looking at why some students dropped out, or whether the course has helped them decide whether nursing is for them.’ See page 13
A mental health nursing student is preparing to throw herself out of a plane flying at 20,000 feet as part of a skydiving world record attempt. Maddy Heath Kelly will be one of 129 women aiming to become the largest group to complete a dive with two or more formations in California in October. Ms Kelly is fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Society and the patients’ foundation of an inpatient ward for people with dementia at Franklyn Hospital, Exeter. To sponsor Maddy and help with her costs email [email protected]
LUC VAN BRITSOM
Daredevil Maddy’s world record attempt
Maddy Heath Kelly preparing for her world record attempt in Switzerland
NURSING :: vol 28without no 51 permission. :: 2014 7 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 23, 2015. For personal useaugust only. No20 other uses Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
Share your news with us – email [email protected], call +44 (0)20 8872 3144 or @NScomment
RCN head of policy says costs of nurse training pilot are prohibitive Exclusive by Christian Duffin A quarter of the 250 prospective nursing students recruited to a national training pilot set up to give them up to a year’s caring experience have not pursued nursing as a career, Nursing Standard has learned. Health Education England (HEE) said 12 per cent of those recruited to work as band 2 healthcare assistants (HCAs) on a salary of £14,000 for up to a year dropped out of the programme early. The HEE was unable to confirm what the remaining 13 per cent had decided to do. The HEE said last week that more would-be nurses will be recruited in October and February next year to a second phase of the pilot. In May last year, health secretary Jeremy Hunt said that all aspiring nursing students should work for up to a year as HCAs before starting nurse training. He said it would test whether they had the right values of compassion and empathy to be nurses.
But the plan attracted criticism and raised concerns about the feasibility of providing tens of thousands of prospective nursing students with jobs as HCAs. An HEE spokesperson said several benefits had emerged from an ongoing evaluation of the pilot. It has allowed aspiring nurses to gain experience and improve their chances of getting on nursing degree courses, as well as helping them to decide whether nursing is for them, the spokesperson added.
Valuable experience
The training pilot has enabled employers to ‘recruit outstanding candidates to work for them as HCAs’, and possibly come back to them as nurses after completing their degree. Three would-be nurses joined the pilot managed by Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust. Two have been accepted on to nursing degrees, while the third is currently applying. Bethany Ainscombe, who has started her degree course at the University
of East Anglia, said: ‘Before the pilot started I wanted to apply for nursing, but had no experience. I was worried that it may not be what I had in mind, but actually it has helped me realise how much I love caring for people.’ Monica Fletcher, a nurse and chief executive of the Education for Health training company, said: ‘Anything that encourages someone to go into nursing is a good thing, but we have a shortage of nurses and it will be more difficult to attract them if the HCA course becomes compulsory.’ RCN head of policy Howard Catton said: ‘The costs are prohibitive to run courses like this for everyone who might be thinking about nursing. There are other ways for people to gauge whether it might be a career for them – such as how they viewed their experiences of caring for a relative. There are learning experiences from the pilot, though – looking at why some students dropped out, or whether the course has helped them decide whether nursing is for them.’ See page 13
A mental health nursing student is preparing to throw herself out of a plane flying at 20,000 feet as part of a skydiving world record attempt. Maddy Heath Kelly will be one of 129 women aiming to become the largest group to complete a dive with two or more formations in California in October. Ms Kelly is fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Society and the patients’ foundation of an inpatient ward for people with dementia at Franklyn Hospital, Exeter. To sponsor Maddy and help with her costs email [email protected]
LUC VAN BRITSOM
Daredevil Maddy’s world record attempt
Maddy Heath Kelly preparing for her world record attempt in Switzerland
NURSING :: vol 28without no 51 permission. :: 2014 7 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 23, 2015. For personal useaugust only. No20 other uses Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
