Newly Qualified Nurses Employed in Primary Care - an Enhanced Training Practice (ETP) example

The Practice Nurse workforce is ageing with almost one in five General Practice Nurses (GPNs) aged 55 and over (GP Taskforce, 2014). In 2009, Buchan & Seccombe warned that the challenge of replacing those who retire will become a progressively prominent issue over the next few years. Notably, The General Practice Forward View (2016) cannot be delivered without sufficient recruitment and workforce expansion. Historically, nursing students have little access to placement opportunities in Primary Care, therefore having limited appreciation of the role of the Practice Nurse and would not customarily consider Primary Care as an option after qualifying.

In September 2015, Health Education England (HEE) working across the North West made accessible a substantial investment to develop placements for healthcare students in primary care with the aim of recruiting and retaining a future healthcare workforce in the general practice setting. This investment has led to the establishment of 15 Enhanced Training Practices (ETPs) to provide exposure and breadth of placement experience for healthcare students through a ‘Hub’ and ‘Spoke’ model approach.