Following the announcement of a new Graduate Guarantee for qualified nurses and midwives in England, Professor Alison Machin, Chair of the Council of Deans of Health has issued the following statement:

“The Council of Deans of Health has been working hard to articulate the employment challenges faced by many graduate nurses and midwives and so welcomes this positive step forward. We recently surveyed members on this subject and were concerned to note how difficult many were finding this. Hopefully, this is the start of turning this around, delivering high quality jobs our graduates, country and NHS needs. Something we can all get behind.

We will work with our partners in NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care to support this initiative but also to highlight any issues faced with its delivery. There are regional variations that must be factored in as well as further work to support qualified allied health professionals into graduate roles.

This is very good news, we now need to work together to ensure it is a success.”