Posted 18 April 2017 - 09:00
Posted 18 April 2017 - 09:00
News
University partners with trusts to increase nursing student places fivefold
A university providing self-funding nursing student places that have not been commissioned by Health Education England has increased its intake more than fivefold.
After announcing a partnership with three NHS foundation trusts, the University of Sunderland is increasing its nursing student places to 130 per intake.
In addition to its original partnerships with City Hospitals Sunderland and South Tyneside NHS foundation trusts, which were in place when the adult nursing practice pre-registration programme was launched in April last year, the university has now added pairings with County Durham and Darlington, North Tees and Hartlepool and Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS foundation trusts.
The move has enabled an increase of 104 nursing student places, from an original intake of 26 pupils to 130 as of next month.
The university is investing £3.5 million to expand its nursing facilities. The Nursing and Midwifery Council gave its approval for the university to increase its student intake and work with an expanded number of trusts, as well as recruiting extra teaching staff.
'Homegrown' nurses
Since 2015, some universities and trusts have offered self-funded undergraduate nursing programmes with places not commissioned by Health Education England (HEE), in a bid to tackle workforce shortages.
The university's principal lecturer in nursing Simone Bedford said the three trusts could 'see the benefits of having homegrown nurses to fill the workforce gap'.
She added: 'We were one of the first universities to go down the non-commissioned nursing route, and in under a year we're unique in the number of partners we now have.'
She added that students would now have more choice in where to undertake their placement and could benefit from a broader network of colleagues to train with.
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