Most days in the workplace we reflect on what is now the new norm following the initial COVID-19 outbreak. Many of us have moved further into the digital space, conducting briefings and meeting colleagues online. The digital meeting does not replace the benefits of a face-to-face meeting, where I can sense the mood of a room, read the body language and take part in informal interactions before and afterwards. However, using some of the digital platforms that are now commonplace has many benefits. They have become a highly efficient way of getting colleagues together, often at short notice, from multiple venues.
Over the earlier part of the year, most of the country's children had their educational offer moved to online platforms, and the NHS is also taking this opportunity. And while in times gone by, many of us would not have believed that pre-registration training could be undertaken outside of the traditional attendance at an institute of higher education, it would appear that learning from working differently following the NHS response to COVID-19 may sway our views.
The long-awaited NHS People Plan (NHS England et al, 2020) confirmed that, from January 2021, a number of universities across England will start to deliver a pre-registration blended learning nursing degree programme initially for adult nursing. As reported at the time (Ford, 2019), the NHS Interim People Plan (NHS England et al, 2019) first indicated plans for this type of learning. In the chapter ‘Tackling the nursing shortage’, it discussed offering alternative routes into the profession in a bid to overcome the national shortage of nurses. The degree also aims to widen participation in nurse education by ‘enabling people to learn on their own terms’.
‘The blended learning nursing degree aims to help to attract those who may previously have faced barriers to a career in nursing’
Health Education England (HEE) (2020) announced that the new blended learning nursing degree aims to provide a flexible study option and will combine digital and traditional elements of learning and help to attract those who may previously have faced barriers to a career in nursing. The interactive and integrated programme aims to make it easier for students to balance their studies with family or caring commitments, creating a significantly different offer in nursing education that also supports the development of digital competencies.
HEE states that this new approach will:
Although initially, the Long Term Plan (NHS England and NHS Improvement, 2019) indicated that the blended degree would be offered at ‘substantially less’ than the current £9250 cost students pay for the traditional degree, the HEE FAQs indicate that this cost will remain. The NHS People Plan places huge emphasis on flexibility, and with the blended options offering three intakes a year, this aims to not only to respond to the surge in interest in, and applications to, nursing degrees, but also to demand from the NHS.
For most students the course takes 3 years to complete. However, if students need more flexibility, they can take up to a maximum of 5 years. I welcome this as a significant step forward in our approach to modernising how we train nurses—the US has been delivering similar high-quality programmes for a number of years with good results. The key for us as nurse leaders is to work closely with the course providers to both understand how the course programme will be organised and delivered and what the interface opportunities are to ensure that high-quality practice placements are delivered. I believe that there are many more exciting opportunities for front-line clinical role models to join theoretical sessions and blend the theory–practice gap in a manner never previously considered.