New part-time certificate opens education up to 400 NHS Wales staff

Health Education and Improvement Wales will be funding a new Healthcare Support Worker (HCSW) level 4 certificate of higher education. This new part time learning opportunity will be equivalent to the first year of full-time pre-registration nursing degree programme.

Students who successfully complete this training will be eligible to apply for the second year of the pre-registration nursing degree programme if they would like to.

The key driver for procuring this education was to establish access routes to higher education for HCSWs, providing the ability to transition into year 2 of a Welsh Nursing degree on completion of the Level 4 Higher Education Certificate.

Procuring this programme provides education opportunities for NHS Wales staff who are currently employed by a Health Board or Trust as a HCSW to further develop their careers whilst remaining in full time employment. The procurement will enable circa 400 NHS HCSWs each year to access education, ultimately improving the stability of the NHS Wales workforce.

This new HCSW education and training has secured Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), and NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) as finalist in this year’s Go Awards. HEIW’s Nursing team and NWSSP’s Procurement Services Sourcing Commissioning team are up for an award for this programme in the Best Procurement Delivery 22/23 category.

Christine Love, Head of Post Graduate Commissioning at HEIW said “We’re absolutely delighted to be finalists in this year’s Go Awards. This highlights the fantastic collaboration between NWSSP and HEIW”.

The awards are taking place in November in the Mercure Hotel Cardiff and the contract for the new HCSW education and training will be finalised next autumn (2023).