Career progression for social care settings with nursing

The role of a nurse in a social care setting is one full of responsibility and reward.  The responsibility comes with working in an environment sometimes at a distance from a medical team.

It is important that nurses in social care are well trained and well supported.  This can be helped by having a clear career progression pathway with opportunities for nurses to upskill and maintain their confidence and competence, have opportunities for clinical supervision and so retain their registration. This can be further supported in a nursing home by ensuring all colleagues are well informed and understand the role of their nurses.   This will provide an insight into nursing as a profession. Within their own role they will grow skills to support the nurses and understand how they too could potentially develop their nursing skills. 

There are opportunities for care workers to progress within a nursing home to pursue an apprenticeship route towards becoming a nurse under the mentorship of a nurse mentor within the care setting.

We know from workforce data that Nottinghamshire has a high turnover of nurses in nursing homes.  This could be for a variety of reasons and, as a manager, you will have a better idea of why this could be.  One explanation given has been that nurses can feel isolated and lack opportunities for CPD and career progression.  Often managers in nursing homes are Managers so the opportunity to enhance nursing skills with additional roles such as Nurse Mentor and learning and development opportunities can add a further dimension.

It is only by discussing the career development opportunities, in line with the needs of the business, that bespoke career pathways can be identified. Where this is achieved, it will benefit the business and the individual, and support the retention of nurses within the organisation.