Grantham Hospital is to benefit from an influx of students nurses this month.

Nearly 100 student nurses will be joining the frontline NHS Lincolnshire teams to help fight back against the coronavirus pandemic.

The final year student nurses from the University of Lincoln will be joining all three Lincolnshire healthcare providers at the end of April.

They will play important roles in supporting acute hospitals, community services, and mental health and learning disability services. This cohort of nurses will boost the Lincolnshire workforce, following a national call for nurses in-training to step up and serve in the fight against coronavirus.

Students will work in all kinds of healthcare settings in Lincolnshire, matching their skills to meet particular needs in our local area.

Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) is expecting to have 17 student nurses. Two student nurses will work on community hospital wards, two in urgent treatment centres and the remaining students will be spread across the county in the community teams.

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) will benefit from 20 student nurses, working countywide in both inpatient and community-based mental health and learning disability services.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) workforce will be strengthened by a team of nearly 60 student nurses, who will join its frontline staff to work in Lincoln County Hospital, Boston Pilgrim Hospital and Grantham Hospital.

A ULHT spokeman told Grantham Nub News that Grantham Hospital would receive two of these nurses.

Anita Lewin, Director of Nursing, Allied Health Professionals and Quality, Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said on behalf of all of the providers: "We are enormously grateful to the students who are joining Lincolnshire NHS as it faces an unprecedented challenge. It is by no means an easy way to start their career.

"Students will be working alongside our dedicated staff in Lincolnshire hospitals, community, mental health and learning disability services, putting their much-needed skills into practice to support us in keeping our services going throughout the pandemic. They will combine their final stages of nursing training with paid NHS roles, and we are indebted to colleagues at the University of Lincoln for their support in helping us to achieve this.

"On behalf of all Lincolnshire healthcare providers, I want to say thank you to the new generation of NHS staff who are stepping up to help us at this challenging time".

Dr Kate Grafton, Head of School of Health & Social Care at the University of Lincoln, said: "We're incredibly proud of our nursing students who are supporting the NHS workforce in our region in the fight against coronavirus.

"We've worked closely with NHS providers, professional and regulatory bodies on the arrangements, and we have great confidence in our students that they will make a valuable contribution working alongside other NHS frontline staff in our local hospitals and other health settings.

"The students' commitment and confidence in volunteering to support the workforce at this time of national crisis is a testament to the strong partnership working with our or clinical placement providers, excellent teaching and placement support."