Torbay NHS nursing training scheme wins top national award

A pioneering partnership between the NHS and The Open University which allows people to train as nurses while studying locally has won a major national award.

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust teamed up with The Open University in July 2024 to offer a new route into nursing, enabling students to earn a degree while completing paid, on-the-job training close to home.

The scheme, the first of its kind in the UK, was named Nursing Times Workplace Team of the Year at a national awards ceremony in London last month. More than 700 leaders from nursing and midwifery attended the event, which recognises innovation in recruitment, retention, wellbeing and inclusion across health and social care.

Since the programme launched, 18 people have begun their studies while completing clinical placements across acute and community hospitals in Torbay and South Devon. A further 16 students are due to start their courses in February 2026.

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Presenting the award, Nursing Times editor Steve Ford said judges praised the partnership as a “genuinely inspiring and unique recruitment model that demonstrates thinking outside the box, with endless possibilities for supporting social mobility and local aspirations”.

He added that it was “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, said she was “incredibly proud” of the teams behind the project.

She 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.”

Dr Rebecca Garcia, associate head of school for nursing and health professions at The Open University, said it was “fantastic” to see the model receiving 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,” she said.

Applications are now open for the next cohort, with students able to specialise as either children’s or adult nurses for the first time.

Open days will be held on 9 January and 10 January at the Horizon Centre at Torbay Hospital, with an online session on 27 January. Applications close on 10 February.