Winterfield's nurse residency program will take sixty new graduate nurses in September, double last year's intake.

The program runs twelve months. Each resident is paired with a preceptor who has at least ten years of practice, keeps that preceptor for the full year, and carries a protected reduced caseload for the first four months.

Why double

Because the first-year retention figures justified it. Across four cohorts, 91 percent of residents were still nursing at Winterfield twelve months after starting, against a national first-year turnover for new graduate nurses of roughly 23 percent.

The expensive part of the program is the preceptor time, and the argument that has been made internally for three years is that it is cheaper than replacing a nurse who leaves in month eight.

What is changing with the size

Sixty residents needs sixty preceptors, which is the actual constraint. Twenty-two experienced nurses have taken on preceptorship for the first time this year, and the preparation for that role has been extended from a half day to three days as a result.

Cohort teaching moves from weekly to fortnightly, with the recovered time going into simulation. The simulation suite at Winterfield North has been booked for the residency two days a week from September.

The residency

  • Twelve months, starting each September.
  • Sixty places in 2026, up from thirty.
  • One preceptor per resident, held for the full year.
  • Protected reduced caseload for the first four months.
  • 91 percent of residents still at Winterfield after twelve months, across four cohorts.

Applications for the September 2027 cohort open in November.