This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New measures to help student nurses
11/03/2003
Measures to help student nurses with childcare and manage their finances better were announced today.
Speaking at the RCN Annual Conference in Edinburgh Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm set out his commitment to student nurses in Scotland. Nursing and midwifery student intakes have increased by over 25 per cent since 1996/97 and the Executive has funded an additional 250 places this financial year at a cost of £1.5 million.
However, finance continues to be an issue, particularly for lone parents.
The Minister said:
"We are concerned about the numbers of students who drop out. And we know that one reason is financial. That is why we have increased the student bursary by 20 per cent since 1998.
"To help further, I am pleased to be able to announce today that from September this year we will be introducing a childcare allowance for lone parent student nurses. They will have access to an additional allowance of up to £1025 a year for formal childcare costs. I hope this will help ease the burden for those hard working students who have child commitments."
And to help students manage their finances better, the Minister announced that students will receive their bursaries on a monthly basis. He said:
"We have asked the Student Awards Agency for Scotland to make arrangements for students to receive their student bursary on a monthly basis directly into their bank account. I know this is something that students have asked for."
The Minister also announced a drive to encourage nursing auxiliaries become qualified nurses. He said:
"We will introduce alternative routes into pre-registration nursing for 200 healthcare support workers this year. This reflects our commitment to supporting our existing, highly motivated nursing auxiliaries who wish to pursue a career in nursing to improve their opportunities and provide much needed committed staff."
The initiative will cost £0.5 million to start and will rise to a total of £3 million within three years.
To coincide with the conference the Executive has also published an update report on the "Nursing for Health" proposals for public health nurses that were published two years ago.
Launching the report, the Minister said:
"It is two years since we published our Nursing for Health proposals and in those two years we have achieved a lot. We have Public Health Practitioners in every Local Health Care Co-operative - many from nursing backgrounds - all of them making a vital local contribution to improving health.
"We have trained or have in training over 200 new public health nurses.
"This report celebrates the achievements over the past two years but also sets down further challenges to nurses in addressing Scotland's health challenge."
The Minister set out his vision of the role of nurses in NHSScotland and their input to implementing the White Paper, Partnership for Care. He said:
"I see nurses and midwives at the core of the NHS. They are the most visible and recognisable symbol of the health service and embody the values people want to see in NHSScotland. Nurses are trusted. Nurses have the skills to assess need, plan and deliver care and evaluate the effectiveness of their interventions.
"These traditional roles and skills should never be undervalued. Nurses have a central role to play in taking forward the White Paper that aims to devolve power to those best placed to make a difference and to involve staff better in promoting the right changes for our healthcare and patients.
"It has been important for me to listen to frontline staff and their views have been crucial in helping inform our initiatives on recruitment and retention.
"In the last year, alone I have provided an additional £9 million package of funding for nursing. This has gone to training and recruiting more nurses. It has gone towards developing nurses' skills. It has gone to creating more nurse leaders on the wards and in the community. It has encouraged nurses back into the profession."
The Minister set out the initiatives undertaken that are making or will make a difference to nurses, including:
- The publication of the Framework for Nursing in Schools to help revitalise a much neglected, but vital area of nursing.
- The development of a flexibility programme by the Centre for Change and Innovation called "Promoting Balanced Working Lives - A Can Do Approach to Employing Nurses and Midwives. The programme will be delivered between April and July with a Best Practice Conference in October.
- Guarantee of a year's employment in NHSScotland for around 2,400 new qualified nurses and midwives who completed training in Autumn 2002 and Spring 2003.
- Nation-wide roll-out of the Return to Practice programme
- £1.75 million additional funding for continuous professional development.