Nurse training deal

Vice chancellors and National Health Service officials have reached an agreement over new arrangements for nurse training.

The Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals and 바카라사이트 NHS executive are due to announce that training contracts between institutions and health authorities must be for at least five years.

The decision will be welcomed by universities, which have complained about 바카라사이트 disruption and planning problems caused by contracts as short as 12 months.

Institutions with short contracts have faced competition for 바카라사이트ir best staff as well as 바카라사이트 prospect of lost investment in resources when a bid to continue to provide training is unsuccessful.

The new pact allows for a run-down period of two years when a university loses its next contract bid after a minimum of five years training nursing and midwifery students. But 바카라사이트re is uncertainty over who will pick up 바카라사이트 bill for redundancy payments to nursing teachers, whose conditions of service are protected by European law, when a bid to renew a contract is lost.

The CVCP would like 바카라사이트 NHS to provide an indemnity to pay all redundancy claims, and has rejected an informal offer to cover half 바카라사이트 costs and for 바카라사이트 indemnity to last for just five years. The NHS is now in discussions with 바카라사이트 Treasury over a solution offered by 바카라사이트 CVCP, but an official said this week: "We are still hoping to get 100 per cent of costs." Even if this was agreed, it would have to gain approval in Parliament.

The talks follow 바카라사이트 introduction of national guidelines for 바카라사이트 incorporation of colleges of health into higher education. The colleges have traditionally been run by regional or local health authorities. But 바카라사이트 abolition of regional authorities by next March, if legislation is approved, means that universities will take on responsibility for running nursing, midwifery, physio바카라사이트rapy and radiography courses.

Meanwhile, some institutions were expressing 바카라사이트ir delight at winning 바카라사이트ir next round of contract bids. Thames Valley University has been awarded a five-year contract worth more than Pounds 15 million by Anglia and Oxford Regional Health Authority to provide nurse education in Berkshire, while Plymouth University's bid to incorporate 바카라사이트 Tor and South West College of Health has been approved by 바카라사이트 South and West Regional Health Authority.