Work under way on new workforce strategy for practice nurses

Work has begun on a new national workforce strategy for general practice nursing which aims to tackle challenges in recruitment and retention to the specialism.

Improving training capacity in general practice and increasing numbers of pre-registration practice nurse placements will be key areas of the plan.

Health Education England (HEE), the body responsible for planning the country’s NHS workforce, has now set up a working group to look at good practice evidence and help develop the strategy.

The strategy will look at how to:

• Improve training capacity in general practice.
• Increase the number of pre-registration nurse placements.
• Introduce measures to improve retention of the existing nursing workforce.
• Support return-to-work schemes for practice nurses.

Members of the working group include representatives from the RCN, the Queen’s Nursing Institute, NHS England and the Royal College of General Practitioners and HEE.

The strategy will bring together work already under way in HEE, NHS England and other organisations to form a national report.

It will also provide a practical ‘how to’ guide relevant to general practice nurses, practice managers, educators, GPs and clinical commissioning groups.

The working group is now calling for written evidence of good practice to inform the strategy. Draft submissions should be sent to the group by September 5, with final versions by September 19.