NEL General Practice Nurse Vocational Training Scheme – January 2026
(Jan 2025 cohort)
Is your practice/PCN interested in recruiting and training a new Practice Nurse?
Has your practice recently employed a nurse who is new to General Practice?
Have you employed a qualified Registered?
NEL GPN VTS Coordinators are now planning for the January 2026, 5th cohort of the General Practice Nurse Vocational Training Scheme (GPN VTS) for Registered Nurses in General Practice.
The Postgraduate Diploma in Specialist Community Nursing (General Practice Nursing) course starts on 9th January 2026, lasting 12 months.
We know that practices and PCNs are struggling to recruit experienced practice nurses. The GPN Vocational Training Scheme supports practices to ‘grow our own’ and work together to train and retain nurses across North East London.
The scheme will recruit nurses who want to pursue a career in general practice in North East London practices/PCNs. We will work with you as an employing host practice/PCN to enable your GPN VTS nurse to gain competency based clinical skills and complete a post-graduate diploma at Level 7 at City St George’s, University of London. At the end of the year nurses will be confident, competent, capable and qualified general practice nurses.
Each employing practice or PCN will gain a training grant of £20,000 and each university place is fully funded by NHSE. There is potential for access to additional funding via the resilience grant process and/or PCN ARRS funding, subject to meeting criteria associated with these funding pathways.
Please look at this video detailing The Hoxton Surgery’s Experience – Hoxton – Stakeholders Perspective
“It is a pleasure working with our GPN VTS as she has shown a high degree of interest in her training right from day one. Working alongside many different clinicians can be confusing, but this may be an advantage to the GPN VTS as it will help her to form better techniques of her own”. Practice Manager (Jan 2023 Cohort)
What aspects of the VTS have worked well for the practices? “The organisation and development of the scheme has been pretty stress free from a practice perspective” Practice Manager (Jan 2024 Cohort)
“We are very pleased to be working in partnership with the NEL GPN VTS team. Our practice currently hosts two General Practice Nurse trainees—one from the September 2024 cohort and one from the January 2025 intake. Both nurses have shown excellent progress in their clinical and professional development and are evolving into highly competent and confident practice nurses.
Their presence has brought fresh energy and perspective to our team, and they have already become valuable assets within the practice. We look forward to continuing our involvement in the scheme and supporting the growth of the next generation of general practice nurses” (Practice Manager (Sept 2024 & Jan 2025 Cohort)
We have also attached an information pack which provides more information about the GPN VT scheme.
If your practice, PCN or joint partnership would like to express an interest in employing a nurse to participate in the NEL GPN VTS in January 2026, or if you have a nurse who you would like to recommend to take part in the scheme, please express your interest by emailing the NEL GPN VTS Team at: nelondonicb.gpnvts@nhs.net by close of play on Friday 19th September 2025.
In your e-mail please include the following information:
We are interested as:
- An individual practice – Practice Name……………………………………
- 2 or more practices working together – Practice Names ………………………
- A PCN – name of PCN ……………………………………………………………