A NEW learning hub which is coming to Savernake Hospital in Marlborough will allow more people to progress or start a

career in nursing or care, hoping to provide more staff to the NHS at a time of staff shortages.

After a 30 per cent decrease in the number of people applying nationally to study nursing, the new centre, run by Wiltshire Health and Care, will be a

training base which will help nurses learn how to provide care for patients in their homes or a community hospital, to recognise and look after patients who become ill or to help people to return home more quickly after a stay in hospital.

The hub will give people the opportunity to earn while they learn with a variety of apprenticeships, ranging from school leavers, to master’s level advanced practitioner courses for trained nurses.

People who have also previously trained as a therapist or nurse some time ago and have taken a career break can return to work with funded placements and mentorship.

Vanessa Ongley, learning and development lead for Wiltshire Health and Care, said: “This is really exciting.

“We are offering support for people in a career where they can make a real difference to people’s lives.

“People can start at any stage in their career; we’ll support registered nurses to achieve advanced practice qualifications or support care workers with nursing aspirations to develop their skills. We are also offering nurses and therapists returning from a career break fully funded return to practice posts.”

Marlborough has been selected as the home for this hub because of its broad range of care facilities which include a community hospital, community teams, learning disability services and nursing and therapy.

The community inpatient ward at Savernake Hospital is also changing to become a designated rehabilitation ward alongside a traditional community hospital ward.