A new scheme has been launched to recruit experienced nurses to mentor newly-qualified peers at two Black Country NHS Trusts.
Nine current or retired nurses are being sought for the part-time roles for a three-month pilot, with six invited to work at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and three at partners Walsall Healthcare.
Legacy mentors are experienced nurses, or colleagues in other regulated professions, usually in the later stages of their careers, who provide coaching, mentoring and pastoral support to nursing recruits at the start of their careers, or who are newly appointed into the NHS.
Providing essential professional advice, education and guidance and passing on a ‘legacy’ to the next generation, they also play a crucial role in supporting staff’s health and wellbeing and career progression.
Cath Wilson, Deputy Director of Nursing across both Trusts, said: “We don’t want to lose any nurses but to those who do feel they want to retire or do something different, we wouldn’t want to lose them permanently, so we’re looking to retain them – or bring them back – as legacy mentors.
“We’d like experienced or retired nurses to spend time with new nursing recruits sharing their knowledge to give them the benefit of their time in the NHS, because they have so many valuable things they can pass on.
“They don’t necessarily have to have worked at Wolverhampton or Walsall before, but they should be open and willing to share their vast knowledge accumulated through their years of training and experience in healthcare.”
With approximately a third of NHS staff in the later stages of their working lives, legacy mentors can provide these colleagues with an opportunity to extend their career while also supporting staff at the beginning of theirs to stay.
The drive to appoint legacy mentors comes as a total of 348 new international nurses will have been recruited across both Trusts in the period from April 2022 to March 2023.
To apply, visit this link for Walsall or this link for Wolverhampton.
Pictured, through the Collaborative Learning in Practice Placement (CLiPP) coaching model at Walsall which enables students to lead delivery of care in a patient bay independently, are students being mentored with Helen Haden, Clinical Academy Link Tutor, in the navy blue. And in the other photo, from left: Cath Wilson, Deputy Director of Nursing for both Trusts, Goksu Tezcan, Staff Nurse at RWT, and Nikki Pakize Durmaz, Matron at RWT.