Nurse managers' perceptions of contracting for education, Part 1: Contracting and pre-registration education

The introduction of the 'purchaser/provider' split into nurse education alters the relationship between service units (or the education purchasers) and colleges of health studies (the education providers). The aim of this study was to identify how education purchasers view the new contracting arrangements, with regard to the provision of pre-registration and post-registration nurse education. In the first of two papers, findings are reported in relation to purchasers' views of pre-registration education. 24 people from one region, comprising senior nurses, and some non-nurse executives involved in the Working Paper 10 initiative, were interviewed. The findings indicate that most of the respondents want a close working relationship with an education provider. They hope that this relationship will be responsive to, and understanding of the needs of the service, and that it will be enhanced by the contracting process. The majority see the need to formally monitor the quality of the output of the college, to ensure that their educational needs are being met by their provider, but they are unsure as to how this can be done. Finally, although it is understood that if service units become dissatisfied with their local college, they can contract with alternative colleges for pre-registration education, the majority of these respondents believe that this will not be desirable or feasible.