Developing a successful programme for new starters in primary care

A challenging start to my career in primary care 15 years ago led me to develop a passion for supporting other primary care nurses as they start out.

In August 2022, I became one of two Legacy Nurses for Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Primary Care. I have to admit that the title put me off slightly (I definitely was not about to shuffle off into the sunset having imparted my nursing knowledge!). However, the broad remit of the post was to improve recruitment and retention (using NHS England and NHS Improvement transformation funding) by developing a support package for nurses coming into primary care. This really excited me and gave me an opportunity to use my experience to come up with something that would genuinely help and support nurses who were new to general practice.

After a few months of research, talking to other Legacy Nurses and Integrated Care Board (ICB) Education Leads and preceptorship across the country, my colleague and I set about developing the New to Practice and Preceptorship Programme. We were able to combine this with the NHS England General Practice Fellowship funding (sadly discontinued from April 2024) to provide a robust offer to practices employing newly qualified nurses or nurses moving from secondary or community care.

The New to Practice and Preceptorship Programme started in October 2022 with a cohort of 17 nurses (4 of whom were newly qualified). To date, nearly 80 nurses (14 newly qualified) have enrolled onto the programme.  This offer was extended to Nurse Associates, although disappointingly they were not included in the fellowship funding offer. We were awarded the Interim Quality Mark for our New to Practice and Preceptorship Programme.

So, what are the components of the programme?

• Induction to the programme and the world of primary care.
• 13 x 2-hour sessions every fortnight (either attended in person or online) giving an overview of the General Practice Nurse role. The programme runs twice a year, and nurses can join at any point (catching up on missed sessions during the following programme).
• Mentorship and clinical supervision – this involves an initial meeting followed by 3-monthly reviews to check in on progress, formulate a personal development plan and support (this is more frequent for those in their preceptorship year).
• Joint clinics – these are especially useful if the nursing team is small or has reduced staffing.  Legacy Nurses will work with nurses in their surgery to develop specific skills and sign off competencies (e.g. child immunisations, wound care, etc.).
• Peer support – new to practice nurses are encouraged to join a WhatsApp group with other members of their cohort to discuss issues and share ideas after the taught sessions.
• Career coaching – this supports nurses to develop in their roles.

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and many nurses have cited the invaluable role that the programme has played in their transition into primary care roles. We regularly survey the nurses who are on the programme to help with improvement and further development. Encouragingly, 100% of nurses on the New to Practice and Preceptorship Programme would still enrol onto the programme despite the discontinuation of fellowship funding.

So, what next? 

Our priority is to ensure that the programme continues despite funding challenges and to share our work with other ICBs who would like to deliver something similar.