HC Deb 25 April 1991 vol 189 c515W
Mr. French

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any additional schools of nursing have been approved to implement Project 2000 nurse training.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

I announced on 9 January that £71 million was to be made available for Project 2000 in 1991–92. I am now pleased to be able to announce that agreement has been given today to the implementation of Project 2000 in 14 colleges of nursing during 1991–92, subject to the necessary educational approval being obtained from the English national board and the resolution of any outstanding financial and manpower issues.

This will mean that, by the end of the current financial year, over half the colleges of nursing in England will have been approved for Project 2000.

The Project 2000 implementation group has approved the following schemes for a 1991–92 start:

  1. 1.Northern RHA—Darlington, Durham, West Durham
  2. 2.Yorkshire RHA—York and Scarborough
  3. 3.Trent RHA—Leicestershire
  4. 4.East Anglia RHA—Cambridge
  5. 5.NW Thames RHA—Barnet
  6. 6.SE Thames RHA—Dartford, Gravesend, Bexley and Greenwich
  7. 7.SW Thames RHA—Kingston and Epsom
  8. 8.Wessex RHA—East and West Dorset, Salisbury
  9. 9.Oxford RHA—Aylesbury Vale and Wycombe
  10. 10.South Western RHA—Gloucestershirc
  11. 11.Mersey RHA—St Helens and Knowsley, Warrington, Halton

In addition, the following three schemes have already received advance approval for a 1991–92 start:

  1. 12.NE Thames RHA—City and Hackney
  2. 13.West Midlands RHA—Shropshire, Mid Staffordshire
  3. 14.North Western RHA-Stockport, Glossop and Tameside

Financial allocations for the new schemes will be notified as soon as possible, following discussions with the authorities concerned. I shall then consider, in the light of further advice from the implementation group, how any balance of the money provided for Project 2000 should be allocated. I shall make a further announcement as soon as possible.

Project 2000 represents an important development in nurse education in this country. It gives more weight to the process of learning and less to the sharing of the work load in hospital wards, although the training remains practical and patient-orientated.