As the NHS prepares to celebrate its 70th birthday, one Wearside nurse is celebrating being back in the job she loves thanks to a re-training course that’s just won a national award.
The Return to Professional Practice in Health course, delivered by Northumbria University, Newcastle retrains former nurses, midwives and health professionals who want to come back into nursing following a break.
It programme just has been named as the best of its kind in the country in this year’s Student Nursing Times Awards, making it the top choice for nurses and midwives looking to return to the profession.
Sunderland nurse Marie Wilcox is just one of the nurses who completed the course this year. She describes her return to nursing as a ‘homecoming’, and has high praise for the flexibility of the training and support she received while studying and on work placement in Sunderland.
The busy mum-of-four from Houghton-le-Spring was able to fit her studies around her family commitments, then walked straight into a job at Sunderland Royal Hospital.
The programme at Northumbria University was officially named as ‘Best Return to Practice Programme’ for 2018 by the Student Nursing Times. It is delivered in partnership with health trusts from across the North East, who provide relevant clinical placements for students. Weekly study and teaching days at university offer support from tutors and fellow students.
The six-month, part-time programme gives nurses and midwives a flexible way to retrain that fits easily around other commitments. It also includes a work placement with a local healthcare provider to help nurses to refresh their skills in a real-life setting.
Applications have now closed for programmes starting in September 2018, but for more information about how to apply for programmes starting in 2019, visit www.northumbria.ac.uk
Northumbria is a research-rich, business-focused, professional university with a global reputation for academic excellence. To find out more about our courses go to www.northumbria.ac.uk
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