Buckinghamshire New University has teamed up with Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs both community and acute services, to boost the undergraduate nurse training offer in the county.
“This is an exciting collaboration between the trust and the university”
Karen Buckwell-Nutt
From September this year, both adult and children’s nursing courses will be run from the university’s newly revamped campus in the Buckinghamshire town of Aylesbury for the first time.
In addition, all clinical placements for these courses are guaranteed to be at Buckinghamshire Healthcare’s sites in Amersham, High Wycombe and Stoke Mandeville.
Previously, all nursing students at the university trained at its Uxbridge campus in west London and most were required to complete their clinical placements in the capital apart from a small number of child nursing students who had placements at Buckinghamshire Healthcare.
The extended partnership between the university and the trust means both adult and child nursing students will be able to gain all their hands-on experience at the Buckinghamshire trust.
Work is currently underway to refurbish the Aylesbury campus ready for student nurses by building state-of-the-art simulation suites including life-like simulation mannequins, functioning hospital-like wards and real-life apartments for students to simulate community nursing.
The campus will also have a dedicated learning zone with digital technology, and moulage – the art of simulating mock injuries and ailments.
Plans have also been made to rebrand the campus and change the name from University Campus Aylesbury Vale to Bucks New University Aylesbury Campus.
Head of the school for nursing and allied health at Bucks New University, Karen Buckwell-Nutt, said: “This is an exciting collaboration between the trust and the university.
“We have partnered with the trust for many years for placement experience for our children’s nursing students, but now we offer adult and children’s nursing training, and placements, in Bucks.
“We are uniquely placed to be able to give students a wide range of experience across the county”
Carolyn Morrice
“We are proud to cement our place as the county university providing employment and skills-based teaching for future nurses trained by Bucks, in Bucks, for Bucks.”
Carolyn Morrice, chief nurse at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “We are delighted to be extending our partnership with Bucks New University in the provision of a high-quality adult nursing degree programme based in Bucks.
“As a provider of acute and community services, we are uniquely placed to be able to give students a wide range of experience across the county, supported by a team of committed and experienced staff during their studies.”
The university has trained more than 9,000 nurses over the last 25 years and will continue to offer nursing degree programmes from its Uxbridge campus through ongoing partnerships with NHS trusts in north-west London.
https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/education/buckinghamshire-to-grow-its-own-student-nurses-for-first-time/7029694.article