Valuing social care nursing in education

We reflect on a recent collaboration with the University of Salford which looked to promote the value of social care nursing in education.

In July this year we worked in collaboration with the University of Salford to host a conference to promote the value of social care and its contribution to pre- and post-registration nursing education. Stakeholders joined us from across the country including our regulators and professional bodies, providers, registered nurses, student nurses, academics, and programme leads, as well as partners in workforce development and support of nursing across the system, including:

• Lucy Gillespie, National professional Lead for Nursing at Skills for Care
• Professor Vanessa Heaslip, Professor of Nursing and Healthcare Equity School of Nursing and Society. University of Salford
• Melanie Stephens Associate Professor in Adult Nursing, University of Salford.
• Professor Michelle Howarth, Professor in Health & Social Care, Edge Hill University
• Professor Claire Pryor, RCN Foundation Chair in Adult Social Care Nursing, University of Salford.

Whilst we wait for the direction of the new Government regarding nursing and the sector, we are working with colleagues at the University of Salford and The PerCIE Network to continue these conversations and we are keen to share some high-level insights from the day. These insights align closely to the new Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care which has two key relevant recommendations: attracting more registered nurses and nursing associates into social care through increasing nursing placements and ensuring adult social care is reflected in higher education.

The value and opportunities of placement activities for social care was a frequent discussion point and attendees felt encouraging placements within social care was key to changing mindsets and raising awareness of social care nursing work for students and nurse educators. However, the challenges were also discussed, acknowledging the work that must happen to build trusting relationships, and the need for appropriate support and resourcing. There was also a sense that the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the Council of Deans Health (CoDH) should explore whether mandatory placements in social care could be a way of supporting this. As one person described ‘We have a lot of great work happening; we need support from NMC and CoDH to make placements in social care and social prescribing mandatory’.

This leads us to opportunities to harness the knowledge and experience of the sector which is too infrequently represented in nursing education programmes. Attendees described the expertise and relevance of the sector needing to be present in the curriculum ‘from day one’ and ‘support for professionals in practice to deliver quality integrated education to pre-registration students’ which aligns to the recommendations of the Workforce Strategy that encourages universities to look at hybrid roles bringing social care nursing experts into their teaching academies where they are absent.

Post qualification opportunities in higher education are clearly limited by funding with many attendees calling for a parity of funding opportunities for nurses across the health and care system. They also highlighted the need to fit into existing education programmes rather than thinking about what they and the sector need in terms of their development, as one attendee described ‘There needs to be more opportunity. Meaningful to social care providers, not just what is thought to be needed’. Post-registration programmes also need to be flexible, offering bite sized modules that can be combined into a master’s programme delivered in a hybrid way that takes into account the operational context of the nursing role in the sector.

The day was a coming together of people wanting to see positive change for the nursing profession and the recognition that with parity of opportunity, even more can be done to impact high quality care and outcomes for people drawing on the care and support across the system.

Writing in partnership we will be drawing more on these findings and continuing to promote the value of social care in nursing education in editorials and articles published in nursing journals over coming months.

Interested in finding out more about nurses in social care through data? Our latest report into the state of the adult social care sector and workforce shows there were an estimated 34,000 registered nurse filled posts in the adult social care sector, with most of these being in care homes with nursing. In addition, there were 750 nursing associate filled posts. Find more of the latest registered nurses’ data.

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