Four nurses working in Newham have bucked the employment trend to win promoted positions in GP surgeries.
All four retrained via a new programme aiming to combat the age-old problem of qualifications versus experience to ‘upskill’ nurses.
An evening was held at Mile End Hospital on Thursday October 25 for over 30 nurses, supporters, and staff to celebrate their achievements.
Newham graduates included Jennifer Flanagan who now works at Woodgrange Medical Practice in Forest Gate, Leigh-Anne Burke at Stratford Village Surgery, Fatima Chaudhury at Royal Docks Surgery, and Nasima Moussa at E12 Health.
Vicky Souster, programme manager, said: “We were finding it difficult to recruit quality candidates to GP nurse posts across north east London and the City.
“Nurses who work in GP practices are vital. They do so much to improve and maintain the quality of life for local people.
“Nurses who wanted to work in a GP practice found it was a catch-22 situation - that they have to have experience as a practice nurse to be employed as a practice nurse.”
The scheme, called Open Doors, is run by NHS North East London and the City in partnership with City University Londonto teach nurses advanced skills such as management of chronic and long-term conditions, immunisation training, and cervical cytology screening.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here