Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded the National Preceptorship Quality Mark for Nursing from NHS England for our SOAR Preceptorship Programme. SOAR is our self-analysis tool that underpins the programme and stands for – strengths, opportunities, aspirations and results.
The Quality Mark is the national gold standard and was created in 2022 when NHS England introduced the new national Preceptorship Framework for Nursing, which NHS Trusts benchmark themselves against.
Meeting the standard to achieve the Quality Mark demonstrates our commitment to support and develop all new registrants (nurses, nursing associates and allied health professionals), those returning to practice, and internationally educated professionals during their first year here at Team WCHC.
Preceptorship is a period where newly-registered clinicians are supported in the transition from student to practitioner, so they can gain confidence and familiarise themselves with the role. We want to ensure that professionals start their careers with the best possible foundation. That’s why our preceptorship programme offers:
- an allocated preceptor
- 75 hours’ supernumerary time (protected learning time)
- group sessions covering topics such as wellbeing and resilience, leadership, decision-making
Paula Simpson, Chief Nurse said, “We are incredibly proud to have been awarded the National Preceptorship Quality Mark for Nursing. The Trust recognises the value and importance of investing in continuous professional development for our staff and providing a supportive learning environment to help the new workforce to grow and flourish.”
Katy Fisher, Practice Education Facilitator added, “This is a wonderful achievement and reflects the hard work of the preceptorship development and implementation group. We hope that being awarded the Quality Mark will help us to attract new registrants to the Trust and ensure that they remain with us throughout their career.”
The sessions have received fantastic feedback from attendees. Read some of their comments:
“I really enjoyed the variety of experiences within the session which enabled meaningful conversations and contributions.”
“This training helped me to understand better my role and responsibilities as a preceptee and as a future preceptor. The session was very well structured and informative.”
Find out more about preceptorship at our Trust: wchc.nhs.uk/careers/preceptorship/soar-preceptorship-programme/.
