Nurse Associates

For Carers who are ready for a challenge. For Care Providers who need more skilled support, the Association can help

Nursing Associate is a new member of the care workforce who provides enhanced care for people in health and social care settings. It has been created to bridge the skills gap between care assistants and registered nurses. This role is only being used and regulated in England.

A nursing associate is not a substitute for a registered nurse. The intention is that by employing a nursing associate, who is registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) having completed an approved training course, it can free up the time of a registered nurse to work at the upper limits of their registration, focussing on more complex care needs and leadership

Nursing associates will have a foundation degree and pre-registration training typically involves two years of higher education, including placements to gain experience across the four fields of nursing – adult, child, learning disability, mental health and within a range of different health and care settings.

The Association has funding to support Care Providers and to support the candidates. There is no cost to the provider or nurse associate (other than time) and we can provide an additional  £4000 per year to the provider to support the nursing associate



There are two main groups we will be supporting

• those who have level 2 in Maths and English who can start the course in September
• those who do not have level 2 in Maths and English and we will support them to achieve this level to start the course in May 2021

We have various universities involved:

Birmingham City University (Care/Nursing Home staff only)

Wolverhampton University (walsall Campus) (Care/Nursing Home staff only)

The Open University (Care/Nursing  Home staff only)

Staffordshire University (Stoke Campus) (Care/Nursing Home staff and Dom Care)

Nursing Associate Candidates

What do you need?

• Be employed within the sector for 30 hours per week
• Evidence of Care Experience, a Care Certificate is advised
• Must have Level 2 in English and Maths or be working towards – the Association will support you to get this
• DBS under 12 months old
• Have completed an occupational health assessment
• Be prepared to complete 2300 training hours
• Must be very focused to complete the learning requirements

Care Providers

What do you need to consider?

• Is the potential candidate employed for more than 30 hours per week?
• The must have a DBS under 12 months old
• Be able to support a practice Assessor, the Association will assist with this
• Can you offer 1 protected study day per week for 31 weeks
• Can you offer 345 hours protected off the job learning per year
• Can you offer placements? The Association will support this as well
• A Uniform must be supplied, if they do not usually wear one

If you are interested in finding out more then please get in touch.