Paul Crawford attended a meeting at Greenmount last week about ongoing nurse training post. He reports that CAFRE are in advanced talks with an alternate course provider to continue the delivery of VN training at Greenmount. It is their expectation that training will continue and they are actively enrolling students to start studies in Sept 2020 with the new course being delivered over two calendar years with teaching over the summer holiday period (mainly online) of both year one and two with the aim of sitting OSCEs in the September two years after enrolment. This means that qualification may take two years and three months from September enrolment. The NPL will be replaced with the course provider’s own platform which in addition to tracking the clinical progress of the student will have information about their academic progress. The progress log section will be less prescriptive than the NPL but this will mean that more active input from the clinical coach may be required to direct the learner. It will be possible to upload a greater range of evidence simply in the new platform to demonstrate competency. The course structure is very different. There is no dedicated anatomy and physiology module for example – these elements are integrated into ‘system specific’ modules. This should improve student engagement and satisfaction especially in the early months of the course.

With regard to current vet nursing students completing C&G, there is no provision for approval of prior learning to transfer credits from the C&G course to any new course. The completion date of August 2023 should give all current students adequate time to complete unless they take an extended period away from the course. All legacy students have been spoken to and advised what they need to do to complete the remaining elements of their particular course and given time milestones to achieve everything before the C&G course ends.

ANA course – this was due to be switched to a new provider in Sept 2020 but this change may be postponed for a year to avoid re-writing two courses in one session.

As part of the drive to keep nursing training running smoothly, DAERA are seeking someone to fill temporary position.  The advert can be found on NIjobfinder HERE.
Please share this job with any interested people. The advert is suitably wide ranging in the scope of who they might accept and all the teaching and assessment tools are prepared and sitting ready to deliver. Part time and job share considered. NOTE imminent closing date!