USW wins £2million healthcare contracts

USW has secured a further £2million funding from Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) to provide two additional courses alongside our existing healthcare portfolio.

During phase one of the commissioning process, HEIW awarded USW over £20m contracts for the delivery of professional, pre-registration education. This included nursing and midwifery, which USW has provided for many years, and three new disciplines of Occupational Therapy, Operating Department Practice and Physiotherapy.

Phase two of this tendering process, taking place over several years, reflects the diverse educational requirements of the modern healthcare workforce, and includes a wide range of post-registration education.

The first of those contracts is, ‘Healthcare Support Worker, Level 4 programme’, a one year, part-time, qualification. Candidates on this programme are already in NHS employment and, upon successful completion, can progress into year 2 of the pre-registration Nursing programme.

Secondly, the contract for ‘Postgraduate Certificate in Critical Care’ has been awarded to USW. This post-registration programme is designed for staff working in NHS critical care departments.

Dr Ian Mathieson, Associate Dean Partnerships and Business Development (Health and Social Care) said: “These are important awards that move us towards our goal of being an important, multi-disciplinary healthcare faculty that makes a significant contribution to the delivery of high-quality care in a wide range of environments. Our tendering for these programmes, and our success in securing them, demonstrates our commitment to meeting the future needs of NHS services and patients in Wales.

“As phase two continues, we will prepare submissions for a range of awards that reflect our content provision and the expertise of our healthcare colleagues.

“USW has ambition to be the primary healthcare providers for Wales – this is another important step towards that ambition.”