Trainee nurses to join coronavirus fight

Third year undergraduate trainee nurses will be invited into clinical practice to support the coronavirus effort, while routine care quality inspections are “going to need to be suspended”, the Chief Executive of NHS England has said.

Speaking at the Chief Nursing Officer’s summit event in Birmingham this morning, Sir Simon Stevens told delegates NHSE was working with the Nursing and Midwifery Council to “see how many of the 18,000 [relevant] undergraduates are available”.

It is understood they would be paid, and follows government moves to pass emergency legislation to relax rules around working in healthcare. 

Asked about Care Quality Commission inspections during the outbreak, Sir Simon said: “There will be a small number of cases where it would be sensible to continue for safety related reasons… but the bulk of their routine inspection programmes is clearly going to need to be suspended and many of the staff who are working as inspectors need to come back and help with clinical practice.” 

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Source: HSJ, 11 March 2020