The Nursing and Midwifery Faculty within NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care System is dedicated to supporting, developing, and celebrating our nursing and midwifery workforce. We bring together colleagues from across health and care settings to share expertise, strengthen professional leadership, and create opportunities for growth and innovation. By working collaboratively, we aim to enhance patient care, champion excellence in practice, and inspire the next generation of nurses and midwives across our communities.
The faculty is chaired by Dr Kathryn Cobain.
“It is my absolute privilege to chair the Nursing and Midwifery Faculty for Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Nursing and midwifery workforce and education has been a shared continual focus and passion, with a core belief that if we can improve the experiences for nurses and midwives in their careers, we will improve patients and their loved one’s experience of the care”
Kathryn is the Chief Nursing Officer at Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB, having started in this role in May 2022. Before this, Kathryn was Director of Public Health for Worcestershire. Kathryn is also a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian and Caldicott Guardian within the ICB and is passionate about promoting health and wellbeing and providing equal opportunities both in residents and staff.
Whether you are established in your nursing career or just starting out, we offer a range of education and professional development grants for nurses, midwives, healthcare support workers, and those aspiring towards a career in nursing.
We offer different types of grants to support your educational and professional development so that you can have a longer lasting impact on patient care. You do not need to be a member of the RCN to be eligible for an RCN Foundation grant.
For more information about our grants programme, including funding available and eligibility, visit here.
Open grants - Closing 22 September 2025
To keep up to date and find out when our grants open, sign up to the RCN Foundation email newsletter.
We currently have five education grants open, and each have different funding and eligibility criteria attached:
- RCN Foundation Professional Bursary Scheme (PBS): open to UK registered nurses, midwives, healthcare support workers, nursing associates and maternity assistants wish to undertake a course or module to enhance their professional development
- RCN Foundation LV= Education Grant: grants for healthcare support workers, nursing support workers, healthcare assistants and care home assistants to support with professional development
- RCN Foundation Into Nursing Grant: for graduates who have obtained a previous degree in any academic discipline and wish to pursue a nursing degree
- RCN Foundation Olufunke Adeyeye Education Grant: for registered nurses, midwives, healthcare support workers, maternity support workers and care workers from the Global Majority to support them as they undertake further training and development
- RCN Foundation Needlemakers Grant: for graduates who wish to retrain to become a nurse. Applicants must hold a previous degree and demonstrate passion for nursing as well as healthcare experience
We are delighted to introduce you to our leadership & management essentials guide for Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care System (ICS). Its aim is to:
- Outline important areas of knowledge, skills and behaviours for all leaders and managers
- Signpost you to resources, e-learning and workshops to support your development
Courses are grouped under the following topics:
- Managing Self
- Managing Teams
- Managing Resources
- Managing Change
Follow this link to the Academy Exchange for a full listing of available courses
To access training you will need to register on the Academy Exchange if you do not already have an account
Coinciding with National Nurses Day in May 23’ , we are delighted to be relaunching our ‘Preparing for your future as a nurse’ online programme on the NHS Learning Hub. Please share the information below with relevant students and staff in your organisation.
Designed for second and third-year nursing students, the programme includes information to help with the transition from student nurse into a first post as a registered nurse, with advice for searching and applying for a first job, what to expect at the start, how to make the most of the early stages of a nursing career, and much more.
We have recently updated the programme with more information in the ‘What to expect from preceptorship’ section to support the new national preceptorship framework for nursing. More resources have also been added to the self-care and wellbeing and clinical supervision sections, and students should find the content easy to digest with new videos, infographics and links to useful external resources.
The programme is hosted on the NHS Learning Hub, which is free to access for all students and NHS staff. Students can access the content at any time and can work their way through it around their university or placement workloads and schedules.
Visit the 'Preparing for your future as a nurse' programme to find out more.
