Interim evaluation: EN/NP and NPTP Workforce Programme 2023
This interim evaluation reports on the progress of the EN/NP Workforce Programme which is funded from July 2020 to December 2024 by Manatū Hauora. The key aims of the Programme (at the outset) were to: 1) expand the Nurse Practitioner Training Programme (NPTP) to 50 places per year; 2) increase participation of Māori, and Pacific, in NP workforce; 3) establish enrolled nurse (EN) and nurse practitioner (NP) positions to improve access to mental health and addiction care and services in primary health care and community settings.
The key outcomes to date are:
- 94 NPs have completed NPTP in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, 22 NPTP interns worked in the broader primary healthcare (PHC) sector, 5 in mental health and addiction services (MH&A); and in 2022, 27 in PHC and 7 in MH&A.
- A consortium of four universities is delivering NPTP in 2023 with 80 trainees, of whom 12 are Māori.
- Service establishment placements (SEPs):
- 9 ENs, of whom 5 are Māori and 2 are Pacific
- 12 NPs, of whom 4 are Māori, and 1 is Indian.
- 25 kaimahi active in earn as you learn (EAYL), of whom 21 are Māori and 4 are Pacific.
- 35 newly registered NPs commenced the NP Transition Programme in February 2023 with working in areas broadly defined as PHC, community, aged care, MH&A, or integrated roles between secondary and PHC services.
- 26 Māori and Pacific RNs are being supported by the Programme team to progress along the NP educational pathway; 3 of these students are now active in NPTP 2023, 3-5 will be academically ready for NPTP 2024 with the majority starting to be eligible for NPTP from 2025 onwards.
Our key recommendations:
Nurse Practitioners
· Urgently revise and increase funding for the delivery of NPTP across four universities and plan future NPTP from 2025, ensuring the NP workforce and NP training are prioritised in national health workforce policy.
- Continue to administer NPTP centrally to ensure maintenance of education standards and equity of workforce and health outcomes.
- Develop a national 2-years master’s programme (120 credits) specifically for NP practice.
- Provide ongoing sustainable funding for one-year NP Transition Programme (first year of practice as a registered NP).
- Continue to expand the NPTP with no cap for the next five years, anticipating a number of trainees to increase by 10-15% annually.
- Implement a specific workforce programme with meaningful and flexible funding to support Māori, and Pacific, RNs to progress through their clinical and educational pathway to NP.
Enrolled Nurses
- Expand the EN EAYL across the motu to increase Māori, and Pacific, addressing long-standing workforce inequities regulated nursing workforce.
- Develop a national framework to support ENs to scaffold through a BN programme.
- Raise the profile of EN work in PHC, recognising EN’s mana as leaders in communities to improve access to healthcare.
- Introduce a similar model to EAYL for Māori, and Pacific, to access BN programmes.
Overarching
- Local co-design is essential for developing models of care that meet the needs of local communities, with a focus on establishing relationships between nurses, health and education providers and programme facilitators and funders.
- Commitment at every level of the sector and every aspect of workforce development to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
