A REVOLUTIONARY education programme for nurses has been adopted by a Watford health care company to help solve a chronic nursing shortage in the UK.

CareMiles is an "earn as you learn" syllabus of industry-recognised training courses, designed to increase expertise in various nursing skills and improve career opportunities.

Allied Healthcare, at 129 St Albans Road, Watford, is introducing the scheme to current and prospective employees who serve patients in the area.

Upon enrolling in the programme, CareMiles points begin to accrue and as they accumulate, participants can sign up for tuition reimbursement plans and a wider range of classes.

The new concept was devised to help Allied Healthcare meet diverse demands from a range of clients - including the NHS and private sector hospitals, nursing homes, community care, social care and private patients - by expanding its staffing services.

Ms Danielle Robson, branch manager for the Watford branch, said: "We care about the carers we employ and are committed to offering them opportunities for both career advancement and professional development.

"Locally, we are continuously creating new ways to recruit top quality staffing professionals.

"The CareMiles programme affords us a significant competitive advantage and the chance to attract key professionals to service patients throughout the Watford community.

"Since participants can work toward expanding their professional healthcare education portfolio by simply logging hours worked and because we offer flexible working arrangements, we are becoming a highly attractive employer straight away as a result of the Care Miles incentive."

The programme will be introduced to all 110 UK branches of Allied Healthcare Group.

July 8, 2002 16:00