Doctors, nurses, patients and schools are being asked what they think of government plans to set up a university for NHS staff.

The idea was put out for consultation on 21 November.

The plans are for an institution providing courses and training for all members of the NHS, from cleaners to doctors.

Under the programme, every member of NHS staff would be offered the chance to do a "foundation degree" in their first five years.

And they would all have an induction course on joining the service.

Another idea is to have a "junior scholarship" for children aged between 14 and 16.

Backing

The chief executive of the university, Professor Bob Fryer, said it would be a major part of the reform of the NHS.

"If the NHS is to deliver better services to patients, then it must not only do many more things - it must do a lot of things differently," he said.

The project has the backing of the public sector union Unison, which represents many people working in the NHS.

The organisation's national health officer Paul Chapman, said:"We look forward to playing a very positive and active role in supporting it.

"We hope the university will lead in delivering the government's agenda, in broadening access to education and training throughout the whole of the NHS workforce."

Nurses, doctors, patients, NHS trusts, colleges and schools have until February next year to give their opinions on the plans.

The research group Mori is canvassing opinion among hundreds of health workers to find out what they would like to have courses on and how they would like to learn.

The organisers say they want to tailor courses to people's needs and lives by having flexible arrangements and on-line learning.

The university, which will be open to NHS staff in England and Wales, is due to be launched next October.

It will run courses across the country but it will be some time before it can be formally accredited as a university.

It will not have a campus but a head office and some regional centres. Courses will be devised to national standards and "rolled out" to local areas, the organisers say.

At the moment courses are run locally.

Conservative health spokesman Dr Liam Fox MP said: "It is ironic that Milburn (health secretary Alan Milburn) should be consulting on its plans for an NHS university when the Department of Health has announced that the initiative is not likely to be granted university status for years.

"This whole venture smacks of Milburn gimmickery."