Trust Sees Success of Registered Nurse Degree Apprenticeship Pathway

The Trust’s first cohort of Registered Nurse Degree Apprentices are due to complete their programme which will enable them to practice as a registered nurse once they have obtained their PIN. This will complete a challenging two-year period which saw them learn the role of a nurse, whilst at the same time studying a degree.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic clearly changed the shape of the course, with online learning becoming the norm and the huge changes within the NHS meaning everyone, including the apprentices, had to adapt to a new way of working.

A selection of the graduates were on hand to receive a personal congratulations from Trust Director of Nursing Pete Murphy, while Simone Anderton, Deputy Director of Nursing attended a special event to give her own thanks.

Simone, who trained as a nurse 35 years ago, was happy to see the apprenticeship scheme bearing fruit.

She said: “When I first started my training all that time ago it was more aligned to the apprenticeship route, it wasn’t a degree, or an academic programme. With the Registered Nurse Degree Apprenticeships, we have almost come full circle, this is a new way of learning in practice whilst still achieving a degree-level qualification.

“We’ve got to open up new avenues for individuals, to allow people to aspire to be a registered nurse and achieve those aspirations, and not just have one academic route, which really excluded a lot of people from reaching that goal.

“This is also a part of our ‘Grow Our Own’ ethos, where we hope to see local boys, girls, men and women being able to access a career through training whilst working and getting a registration within our profession.

“This programme opens a massive opportunity for people who wouldn’t normally be able to access that.”

Gemma Hall, an assistant practitioner who is one of the first to graduate through the pathway said: “I’ve accomplished my lifetime dreams, I’ve always wanted to be a nurse. I’ve been working as a scrub nurse in ophthalmic theatres, doing most of the jobs that a qualified nurse does, so this just seemed the right step to take. It’s a pathway to becoming a registered nurse, but at the same time a paid way to qualify.”

RNDA’s attend the University of Central Lancashire one day a week. At the end of the programme the apprentice is awarded the BSc (Hons) Nursing with Registered Nurse. The RNDA’s practice and contribute towards evidence-based care and treatment in accordance to the NMC standards of proficiencies for the Registered Nurse. The RNDA is a highly trained role to support the delivery of effective, safe and responsive care in and across a wide range of health and care settings. The RNDA is allocated to a base placement throughout the programme and allocated three external placements. The programme combines academic (20%) off the job learning and work-based learning through close collaboration between employers and Higher Education providers.

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