Midshires College of Midwifery and Nursing - Essay Example

The Steering Group had a total of 24 members derived from ten local Health Authorities, the NHS Hospital Trust and the Regional Health Authority. The members had various capacities such as General Managers, Chief Nursing Officers and some were representatives. The inclusion of General Managers from the ten Health Authorities was important since the five colleges provided services to hospitals in the ten Health Authorities. Their views, therefore, were needed to ensure that the creation of Midshires College of Midwifery and nursing becomes a success.

The Steering Group had one main objective, which was amalgamating the five different colleges of midwifery and nursing. Although the Steering Group had a clear objective and the members needed to achieve its objective, it faced various problems in the process of creating Midshires College. The first problem encountered during the process of amalgamating the five colleges was the uncertain future regarding the demand for nurse education. The number of nurses needed, and their functions in the health sector in the coming future were not clear.

In this case, it was certain that nurses’ jobs faced a threat. If formed, Midshires College would face the problem of not admitting enough students to purse the midwifery and nursing course. The future of nursing jobs was measured in terms of population growth and establishment of new hospitals. It was only natural that when creating a new college, it had to accommodate more students than the other five colleges accommodated in total. However, there was a low demand for more nurses in the future market (Hughes et al, 2009).

The second problem experienced when creating Midshires College was a conflict of interest between members in the Steering Group and the new college to be formed. In the five colleges, the General Managers were charged with the task of providing nursing education. It was apparent that, the new college, Midshires, if created could not rely on direct nurse education services from the General Managers. The General Managers had the option of putting up a tender, which could see to it that they secure the contract of training nurses in the college.

The objective and goal, which Midhires College was based on, contradicted both the intentions and interests of General Managers who formed the Steering Group. The creation of Midshires College faced a challenged, which came from the same people who were supposed to oversee its creation. A definite competition was on the rise, as it was seen when an organization to compete with the new college in terms of availing post-experience nurse education was formed by two Health Authorities. The Steering Group had the intention of frustrating efforts that the new college was making in order to provide post-experience courses.

It is worth noting that the Steering Group was all along protecting its interests, through lamenting that if the new college provided post-experience courses then 30% of the five colleges’ staff would lose their jobs. Creating the new college became a challenge since members in the Steering Group were opposing change, which would affect jobs and provision of nursing education (Hughes et al, 2009). The third problem came as a result of the expectation that a higher educational institution would validate qualifications achieved from Midshires College, which was on the verge of formation.

It was also expected that, in the end, Midshires College