'Grow Your Own' programme shortlisted for the HSJ Awards

The ‘Grow Your Own’ Clinical Pathway, led by Health Education England - East of England in partnership with employers and HEIs to develop alternative routes into care in the NHS, has been shortlisted for the prestigious HSJ Awards in the Workforce category.

The team has encouraged a cultural change to how education within the learning environment is viewed, in so far as practice and theoretical education and learning can be achieved by remaining in practice and caring for patients and clients all the way through to professional registration.

The pilot programme has shown huge savings per student compared with the traditional delivery of pre-registration nursing degrees. In 2015/16 HEEoE will be supporting 120 support workers within this pathway to enter preregistration nursing degrees, potentially saving more than a million pounds over an 18-month period.

Kathy Branson, Executive Lead for Special Projects and lead for this programme of work, said:

I am absolutely delighted that this work is being recognised by the HSJ Awards. By taking an innovative approach to developing the healthcare workforce, we are ensuring we have great staff with the right values providing better care for patients.

The team will now present to a panel of judges before the winner is announced on 18 November at the awards ceremony in London.