Stepping stone to nursing study for support staff

A project aimed at helping health and social care workers become nurses has been launched in Grampian. 

The project, which is a partnership between The Open University (OU), North East Scotland College and NHS Grampian, will see twenty four students undertake literacy and numeracy study, with those successfully completing the programme being able to consider further study including application to The OU’s nursing degree programme.

Funded by the Scottish Government, the project seeks to widen the routes to accessing further education for experienced support workers.

The students (pictured above), who are largely health care and social care staff with NHS Grampian, began their OU study last week and will participate in numeracy learning with North East Scotland College early in 2018.
 

Nurses play a critical role in our society and it’s important that the nursing workforce is reflective of the communities it serves. Projects like this help to widen access to nursing as a profession, making background no barrier to a career as a nurse.

Susan Stewart
Director of The Open University in Scotland

Hugh Masters, Associate Chief Nursing Officer, said:

“We are delighted to be supporting this exciting development which will help deliver our ambition to widen access into nursing careers.  We look forward to hearing about the progress of the students.”

Karen Allan, Professional Lead for Healthcare Support Workers at NHS Grampian, said:

“Healthcare Support Workers are a vital part of our teams within NHS Grampian and being able to offer this funded opportunity for study with the College and The Open University is an excellent way to support their career development.

"It provides a stepping stone for those who are considering nursing training and can help people to decide if this is the right route for them. Peer support of colleagues is an important part of this initiative and it has been great to see the enthusiasm from staff.”

Duncan Abernethy, Director of Business Development at North East Scotland College, said: 

“We work closely with NHS Grampian and this is one of the initiatives that the College is involved in to help increase the number of progression pathways into nursing.

"The College works with many industry partners to help upskill workforces and this project will see us provide numeracy training in the workplace to help broaden opportunities for NHS Staff.”