General Practice Nurses

These are permanent posts which require the applicant to complete a 1-year training programme at band 5 and on successful completion they will move to a band 6 GPN post. They will be employees of the GP federation both during and after the training programme. During the training year they will be supernumerary in their training practice with their salary costs being paid by the federation. 

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Background

The Public Health Agency and Health and Social Care Board, in partnership with a number of key stakeholders across General Practitioner Services, have produced a General Practice Nurse framework for Northern Ireland  ‘Now and the Future: A General Practice Nursing Framework for Northern Ireland’. This initiative aims to provide guidance to support systems and processes that are required for the development of General Practice Nurses and supports the recommendations of the Northern Ireland GP-led Review.

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The General Practice Nurse Training Scheme is an innovative scheme with the core purpose of growing the registered nursing workforce within primary care. This innovation is intended to help to address the gap in the General Practice Nursing workforce between the current level and that recommended by Delivering Care - A Policy Framework for Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Planning in NI” Phase 7. This phase of the policy framework recommends a ratio of 1wte:2222 Practice population. This ratio brings Northern Ireland in line with the UK benchmark and the PHA and HSCB anticipate that this ratio will support the delivery of better outcomes for patients. 

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The GPN Training Scheme has been designed to reflect the Career Pathway for General Practice Nursing NI (NIPEC 2019) General Practice Nursing – Home – NIPEC (hscni.net). The Scheme runs over 1 year and includes three primary elements of (a) practice-based learning within a host Practice, (b) the Ulster University Post-graduate/Advanced Certificate General Practice Nursing and (c) knowledge and skills training provided by the Clinical Education Centre. 

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Working collaboratively and in partnership with local Practices, the Public Health Agency and the Health and Social Care Board the Federation was able to offer full-time posts to six nurses. These nurses joined the Federation in December 2020. They are placed with their host Practices across our geography and we wish them every success as they start out on their career pathways to become General Practice Nurses. 

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The Federation would wish to take this opportunity to express its sincere gratitude and thanks to the host Practices and their staff for enabling the delivery of this Scheme and to acknowledge the key role that Practice Supervisors and GPs are playing by providing mentorship and support to the nurses participating in the General Practice Nurse Training Scheme and Practice Managers for facilitating this initiative.