A BLOSSOMING partnership between the NHS in South Devon and The Open University to give people the opportunity to study for a nursing degree while training on the job has scooped a top national award.

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and The Open University joined forces in July 2024 to give local people who had always wanted to be a nurse the chance to become a nurse without moving away to study.

Since the project launched, 18 people have begun their studies while completing their clinical placements at acute and community hospitals across Torbay and South Devon, with another 16 people waiting to begin their course in February 2026.

And now the partnership, which is the first of its exact type in the country, has been named as the Nursing Times’ Workplace Team of the Year.

More than 700 leaders from nursing and midwifery attended the London event, which recognised the people, teams and organisations driving improvements in staff recruitment, retention, wellbeing and inclusion across the health and social care sector.

Presenting the award, Nursing Times Editor, Steve Ford, said the judges felt the partnership was a ‘genuinely inspiring and unique recruitment model that demonstrates thinking outside the box, with endless possibilities for supporting social mobility and local aspirations… it’s an innovative approach to creating nursing pathways for individuals from deprived areas and those with caring responsibilities or limited prior opportunities’.

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust’s Chief Nurse, Nicola McMinn, hailed the team’s success.

Nicola said: ‘I am so incredibly proud of my colleagues from clinical education and recruitment for all they have achieved to bring their vision of making it easier for people to realise their dream of becoming a nurse to life.

‘Nurses are the backbone of our NHS, but we know that for many local people, moving away or commuting to university is a barrier to studying.

‘We want to make it easier for people who may have family, caring or financial responsibilities to become a nurse, and our award-winning partnership gives people an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a clinical setting where they live, while being able to study at home.

‘Our student nurses speak positively about the flexibility the course gives them to manage home life while gaining a qualification that will help them to become a nurse’.

Dr Rebecca Garcia, Associate Head of School Nursing and Health Professions, The Open University said: ‘It is fantastic to see this new model of nurse education pioneered at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and The Open University is now getting national recognition.

‘This partnership not only brings new nurses from the local area into the profession in addition to the degree apprenticeship route but also drives social mobility which is at the heart of The Open University’s mission.

‘Congratulations to everyone in both teams who helped set up this programme’.

Applications are now open to join the next cohort of students who will begin their studies next year, and in a first people can choose to specialise either as a children’s or an adult’s nurse.

You can find out more about the course, entry requirements, funding arrangements and any other questions by talking to Torbay and South Devon’s clinical education team at open days: January 9, 6pm to 8pm, Horizon Centre, Torbay Hospital; January 10, 10am to midday, Horizon Centre, Torbay Hospital and January 27, 6pm to 8pm, online via MS Teams.

Applications close February 10.

Email Pre-registration nursing team, call 01803 656677 or see the Trust’s pre-registration nursing degree programme page for more information.