Hospital training programme accredited

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s Preceptorship programme sees mentors – or ‘preceptors’ – instructing, training, and supervising newly-qualified nurses for their first 12 months in the job.

Every health trust in England is required to support Preceptorship in some way, but Blackpool is the first to have their programme accredited by the RCN.

Eleanor McManus, the trust’s new career transformation, engagement and development manager, set up the programme and now leads it.

She introduced ‘area specific skills logs’ so nurses can keep a record of what they have achieved and what they still need to do.

She said: “The Preceptorship programme makes the clinical skills sessions easier to access and offers a structured framework so the newly-qualified nurses are better at their jobs sooner.

“The nurses can contact me for advice and support easily through social media. I can help them to sort out any problems. The feedback is that they enjoy it and it is highly relevant to what they do.”

Laura Brookes, 22, from Poulton, said: “I have found the programme really useful.

“I’ve had lots of support from ward managers and other colleagues.

“I did a placement on Ward 16 as a student nurse and now I’m on Surgical High Care.

“I have always wanted to be a nurse. It’s nice when you see a difference in how you have helped a patient, especially if you have stayed extra hours to help.

“Some patients are very poorly and it’s nice to see them when they have recovered.”

Nurses must complete modules relating to the trust’s values, medical devices training, professional development for National Medical Council requirements, reflective accounts, and training for revalidation requirements.