Study online for a degree in nursing

AN affordable online nursing degree will be established by the NHS in a bid to boost recruitment by making training more accessible.

The course could be launched as early as 2020 pending approval and will include guaranteed placements at NHS trusts and in primary care.

It will cost “substantially less” than the £9,250 a year paid by students. However, the plan stated: “The main source of new nurses is through undergraduate education and, while other routes are important, restoring growth in this route is successful to the success of the Long Term Plan.”

More than 22,000 people were accepted onto nursing courses in 2018. There are also 7,500 new nursing associates starting in 2019 – a 50 per cent increase on 2018.

Clarity

Other measures include an extra £1million a year to support the Workforce Race and Equality Standard, which ensures that ethnic minorities have equal access to career opportunities.

The Helpforce volunteer scheme also gets an extra £2.3million. This is part of a plan to double the number of NHS volunteers over the next three years. Catherine Johnstone CBE, head of Royal Voluntary Service, welcomed the extra funding but said there had to be “greater clarity around the role volunteers can play”.

A full workforce implementation plan will be published later this year.