Wise 5 aspires to explore new roles, opportunities and flexible working to attract you into remaining in clinical practice, support you in practice and ensure you feel personally/professionally valued and fulfilled.
This includes by sharing your valuable knowledge, skills and experience with newly qualified nurses, those new to General Practice and moving new initiatives/services forward.
If you are considering retiring, or are due to leave General Practice, please complete this survey.
General Practice Mentoring Scheme
Mentoring is the opportunity to have comfortable guided conversations with someone who understands your role in General Practice and can share ideas, knowledge and experiences. A Mentor can support with a range of areas, such as: appraisals, career development, complaints, leadership, partnership, parental leave, career break/return to work and retirement.
For more information on how to register for this scheme, please visit our Mentoring page.
Nurses Returning to Practice
Are you, or someone you know, thinking about returning to practice but are not sure how to? Coventry and Warwickshire Training Hub want to provide support and opportunities for Nurses who had a break in their career and now want to return, safely, back to practice.
There are several ways you can do this:
If your pin has expired:
Access a Return to Practice Course
West and East Midlands will pay for the tuition fees associated with the Programme and will also provide you with a bursary. The programme usually takes between three and nine months to complete, depending on how long you have been away from practice and how quickly you complete your clinical competencies.
Know that you can undertake the programme either as a paid permanent employee of a trust (should a vacancy be available for this option), or through a voluntary, unpaid, time specific placement organised by the university. For further information see this link.
Local Universities offering the Return to practice Course;
- Birmingham City University –They offer a fundamentals of GPN programme and have/can incorporate some aspects of GPN into the RTP programme. Email returntonursing@bcu.ac.uk or Heather.Scripps@bcu.ac.uk
- Coventry University – Please email Carol Oldroyd at hsx312@coventry.ac.uk
Alternatively, you can complete the NMC – Test of Competence. This test is made up of two parts:
- a multiple-choice computer based theoretical test known as the CBT
- a practical test known as the OSCE
You can sit your CBT or OSCE in any order, but you must successfully complete both parts to continue with your application for initial registration or readmission. For further information see Take a Test of Competence to return to practice – The Nursing and Midwifery Council (nmc.org.uk)
If you have a current pin:
Pension Information and Flexible Retirement
Are you thinking about retiring and returning to practice?
NHS pensions have released a webinar on flexible retirement options which can be found here.
Did you know that NHS pensions also do monthly presentations with Question & answer sessions on:
- All schemes – Understanding the NHS Pension Scheme and its benefit
- All schemes – Your Annual Benefit Statement explained
You can sign up for these events via the NHS Pensions website – NHS Pensions member events | NHSBSA
NHS pensions are changing the way you can access your pension. You will be invited to register to their new online portal, My NHS Pension. If you have not yet received your information and want pension advice, you can email on nhsbsa.pensionsmember@nhsbsa.nhs.uk quoting your name, full address, DOB and SD (pension) number (found on your wage slip) or Telephone: 0300 330 1346
For more information on the NHS Pension Scheme, please click here.
If you have a current pin but have not been in clinical practice but want to return to practice but are not feeling fully confident, you can try the eLearning for health- Back to the Floor module here.
Buddying
Are you Interested in a role in General Practice but don’t know where to begin?
BCU run the ‘Discovering a Nursing Career in General Practice; module, a 12-week free course that aims to explore the core skills required to work in General Practice and to appreciate the underpinning theory and rationale enabling safe, effective care.
Develop a portfolio and encourage you to link up with your local primary care nurse leads to ensure you are aware of any GP practices that are recruiting. For more information, please visit this webpage.
Other Roles
Have you considered other roles you may want to apply for to continue support General Practice and the next generation of General Practice Nurses?
- Educational Roles – Mentor, Cytology Assessor, etc.
- Immunisation Programme
- Extended Access
Alternatively, you may want to consider looking at new initatives run by the Training Hub to support General Practice Nursing, such as:
- Legacy Nurses – This role aims to create opportunities for Wise 5 GPNs to utilise their knowledge and expertise in innovative ways, such as supervising others, pastoral roles and career planning
If you are interested in learning more about the Wise 5 (C&W) network, please sign up to hear more via this survey.