The Vice Chancellor of the University of Worcester has welcomed news from the government to fund Health Trusts to provide 1,500 additional placements for health professionals, including Nurses and Midwives, with immediate effect.
The University received the news on the eve of A-level results day. The funding will allow universities, in partnership with their placement providers, to create a number of additional clinical placements, across a range of health professions, including Nursing and Midwifery.
Earlier this year the cap on the number of Nursing and Midwifery students which universities could recruit was lifted when the bursary was replaced with the introduction of student loans for those subjects. However, universities were unable to increase places without increasing the placements, which are essential for the students to be able to work the 2,100 hours in practise, which are a crucial part of their qualification.
Professor David Green, Vice Chancellor at the University of Worcester, who has consistently campaigned for more Nursing and Midwifery places across the Country, said: "I am delighted that the Government has now set out its plans to fund more clinical placements for subjects including Nursing and Midwifery. It has been a long time coming; the government officially confirmed 10,000 extra places on January 27 but only committed to funding the extra placements in August. Now that we have this welcome news of the extra 1,500 places in England from this September we look forward to having our biggest cohort of new Nursing and Midwifery students starting in September."
"On the first day of Clearing we were able to offer 50 interviews to prospective students with first rate qualifications who have heard we now have places and hope to be selected," he added.
The University of Worcester has some of the very best Midwifery, Child, Adult and Mental Health Nursing in the UK, with consistently excellent independent quality evaluations. Worcester is the only English university to have been shortlisted as Nurse Education Provider of the Year (pre-registration), by the Student Nursing Times, four years in a row.
For information on courses at University of Worcester visit www.worcester.ac.uk or for application enquiries telephone 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk