No, not straight away, they will be observing and being observed. At a mutually agreed time they will need access to room to see patients independently. Initially, they will be shadowing their PA/PSs and practicing under direct observation. However, soon into their training, they will run immunisation clinics and undertake smear tests. They may have to share rooms, but to move them constantly is very disruptive and makes them feel less valued than other members of the team. Ideally, as trainees, they should be familiar with their working environment and know the organisation and location of equipment in their clinical room, which should be equipped to deliver nursing care. Nursing care clinical rooms must include lighting (for cervical cytology sampling and complex wound dressing), appropriate space to consult with patients and appropriate medical equipment should be provided by the practice.

The Academic Programme timetable will be provided at the beginning of the programme. The number of study days at university varies according to the academic programme and university. As a reference, the trainee general practice nurse is in clinic for 3.5 days a week and released 1.5 days to attend university and complete coursework.

The salary is for a 37.5 hour per week post (i.e. full time). Additional hours must be paid as overtime and only worked in agreement with the trainee general practice nurse (e.g. if they help with a monthly Saturday clinic or do extra time to deliver flu clinics). If working outside of normal practice hours or visiting patients, a senior practice nurse must be present to supervise and support them until they have been assessed as competent to work autonomously.

The academic programme aims to give the trainee nurses clinical skills in all the areas that are specific to practice nursing and the confidence to practice autonomously. These include:

• Cervical Cytology (smear taker)
• Sexual health screening
• Immunisations
• Travel Health
• Long-term conditions: Asthma, COPD, Diabetes, Heart disease
• Health promotion e.g. supporting people to stop smoking, weight loss, diet
• Providing holistic health care to patients with complex healthcare needs, both social and physical

The GPs provide invaluable support. However, the senior nurse who is the trainee general practice nurse PA provides the support and training. This is because the skills the GPNAs are learning are quite specific to the practice nurse role. Everyone in the practice is expected to teach, support and encourage the trainee general practice nurse, including receptionists, admin colleagues, the practice manager, HCAs, GPs and the wider multi-professional team. The trainee general practice nurse is expected to receive at least 1.5 hours per week of protected teaching time, usually arranged as 30 minutes at the beginning of the day. The financial support (£3,000) covers the costs of the dedicated time.

Every year NHSE WT&E who fund education for health for doctors, nurses and Allied Health Professionals, decide how many practice nurse training posts it can fund and whether it can afford to offer any salary support for trainees. They are offering £20,000 made up of £17,000 salary support and £3,000 mentorship support. In the 2-year academic programme practices receive £8,500 salary support and £1500 mentorship support per year, i.e. £10,000 per year.

The Practice is responsible for pre-employment checks for any nurses they employ on the academic programme, including DBS, occupational health and requesting references. The trainee general practice nurse must be insured in the same way that any other nurses in the team are.

Generally, the contract starts at the same time as the academic programme. However, practice can employ the trainee general practice nurse before the start of the academic programme. Nurses should work within their remit of competency and will not have the knowledge and skills required for practice nursing before their training starts. Practices will have to fund the trainee general practice nurse salary until the start of the programme.

• Being a training practice/approved learning environment
• Have a named practice assessor
• A salary in line with AfC Band 5 entry-level pay
• Employing the trainee practice nurse throughout the course (as per MoU)