QICN Warns Apprenticeship Reforms Threaten Advanced Nurse Education

The Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing (QICN) has raised serious concerns following the announcement by the government of reforms to the Apprenticeship scheme.

Dr Crystal Oldman CBE, QICN Chief Executive commented:

“The QICN calls upon the government to urgently set out their plan to mitigate the impact of this change to the funding of Level 7 District Nurse and other community nurse postgraduate qualifications, including Adult Social Care Nursing, Inclusion Health Nursing, Community Children’s Nursing and General Practice Nursing.

“Without the support for these vital training programmes, it will be impossible for the government to realise the ambition of more care to be delivered in the community, including End of Life Care – the core work of the District Nursing service.

“Just last week, the QICN held an event in the House of Lords, hosted by Baroness Mary Watkins, where the Nuffield Trust research headlines on the District Nursing service was shared. The work by Billy Palmer and colleagues demonstrated that the service is already in a lamentable state of decline: https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/the-lamentable-decline-of-district-nurses-in-the-nhs-in-england. This latest news will send the service into further decline immediately without a solution from the government on funding these essential postgraduate programmes.

“The nursing leadership of the QICN now stands prepared to work with the government to develop their solution to this situation, as I am sure other nurse leaders in England will be too.”

Steph Lawrence MBE, QICN Deputy Chief Executive commented:

“The news today on the apprenticeship shake up, and the stopping of Level 7 apprenticeships, is a patient safety issue for this country. Action needs to be taken urgently to ensure that the funding of training for specialist nursing qualifications can continue.

“As the previous lead for the national apprenticeship trailblazer, this is truly devastating news. The apprenticeship in District Nursing was developed in 2019 as there was real concern then that central funding for District Nurse training would come to an end.

“The reality is that NHS Trusts do not have the budget to pay for the training for their staff. Without an urgent response from the Department of Health and Social Care, we will see the impact on nursing care in the community at a time when the government wants to see more care being delivered in the community! It is not possible to deliver this care without appropriately trained staff, and currently this is very dependent on the Level 7 apprenticeship.”

ENDS

Government announcement: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-generation-of-builders-and-carers-set-to-rebuild-britain