NHS Board Projected Staff In Post Changes In 2012/13

6. Nursing & Midwifery Interns

The Internship scheme was set up by the Scottish Government and is administered on its behalf by NHS Education for Scotland (NES).

The intern positions are 'in addition to' the funded establishment for the area within which the intern is placed. Whilst interns are not included in the establishment figures, they are rostered in the normal way because they are fully registered nurses and midwives with the same standards, skills and competencies as other newly registered staff. This approach means that the intern always provides 'additional' clinical practice experience beyond any baseline safe/appropriate staffing.

Nursing & Midwifery interns have been projected by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) these are included in the overall projected change estimate for NHS Scotland and are not included within the individual Board projections shown in the tables provided in Appendix 1. The projection is based on experience of the numbers of internships in the system in the period from November 2011 to March 2012, assumptions regarding trends in vacancies within NHS Scotland and an increased awareness of the Scheme among new graduates. However, there is very limited historical data on which to inform trend projection and an inherent uncertainty as to the demand. As with all projections, these figures are estimates and are subject to change.