New nursing associate course hopes to support ‘sustainable’ workforce growth

A new nursing apprenticeship programme is set to launch in the West Midlands later this year in the hope of boosting the local workforce.

The new nursing associate apprenticeship will be launched by Keele University this September, subject to Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) approval.

It will be delivered at Telford College’s Clinical Skills Centre, with regular classes and remote lectures being delivered by staff from Keele University.

The course will focus on the ‘practical’ skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to be a nursing associate.

And students who successfully complete the programme will also be given the option to complete an 18-month ‘top up’ course to become a registered nurse.

Professor Christian Mallen, executive dean of medicine and health sciences at Keele University, said he was ‘very excited’ by the course which gives student nursing associates the opportunity to train ‘close to home’.

The course, designed in partnership between Keele University, Telford College and the NHS, will run alongside a range of healthcare courses for Shropshire students.

The partnership will see Keele University open its own teaching space at Telford College’s Wellington Campus, which will be used to teach students and deliver online lessons.

Stacey Keegan, chief executive of The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry, and senior responsible officer for the NHS’s People Programme across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, said the course will ‘open up new opportunities’ for local people looking to begin a career in health and social care and will help to ‘grow our workforce in a sustainable way’.

‘The workforce challenges that the NHS as a whole faces are well known, and that is no different for us in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin,’ she said.

‘‘Growing our own’ via this partnership can only have a positive knock-on impact on the care that our patients receive. I am confident that it will prove to be of immense value in the coming years.’

Last month, the University of Wolverhampton announced its plans to ‘relocate teaching activities’ out of its Telford campus and into Wolverhampton City and Walsall campuses by August 2026.

This comes as Cardiff University seeks to close its school of nursing amid financial challenges.

Last February, the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) called for ‘clear guidance’ on the ‘scope and limits’ of nursing associates amid reports of those in post running independent clinics in general practice.