The former care workers will qualify in 2005

The average assistant earns between �8,000-�12,000 a year and when they qualify, they have been guaranteed a job by NHS bosses and will start on an annual salary of �16,000.

They will also receive �8,000 for the two years and four months they are training on the wards and in the classroom.

Conwy and Denbighshire Trust have recently employed Filipino nurses to full vacant nursing posts.

And they have said they need to attract school leavers into the profession to stem a reduction in positions.

Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan stopped teaching pre-nursing studies on site following the introduction of Project 2000.

My family are proud but they think I'm crackers because I should be thinking about retiring Sue Davies trainee nurse

However, funding from the Welsh Assembly has enabled Conwy and Denbighshire Trust to introduce fast track nurse training for people of all ages.

Fifty-one-year-old Sue Davies, from Trefnant, near St Asaph, said she would not have been able to return to full-time education if the course had not existed.

"I just want to know more and do more for my patients.

"There was a crisis here on the ward once and a lady had a bad asthma attack, I was just standing back, not knowing what had happened to this lady and I knew I needed more training and that's why I'm doing it."

All backgrounds

The eleven classmates from various backgrounds have said they would have found the course difficult to complete if it had not been based in Glan Clwyd.

"If we'd have done our training at another university, each way Bangor or Wrexham you're talking 30 miles," Mrs Davies said.

"My family are proud but they think I'm crackers because I should be thinking about retiring."

The training takes place at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd

The women will be qualified and on duty in March 2005.

Carol Baker, 36 from Henllan, Denbighshire said she wanted to further her career without a dramatic reduction in wages.

"With having family, I'm close by if they ever needed me and it's just ideal," she said.

"The salary is higher and the prospects are better but wanting to learn is a big part of me doing the course."

New jobs

Health care worker of nine years Linda Prendergast said that at 40, going back to class was a big decision.

"I've been out of school for 24 years and to achieve what I've already done my children feel really proud," she said.

Lynne Grundy of Conwy and Denbighshire NHS Trust put the initial bid in to the Welsh Assembly to get funding.

"Not so long ago, it was difficult for support workers to get accepted into training with the universities," she said.

"We're reasonably assured of retaining them as trained staff which we can't assume with other students who've come through."