The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is currently undertaking a radical review of nursing education. This is a once in a generation opportunity to review the standards that all nursing students trained in the UK must meet before they can practise as a nurse. On 13 June 2017, the NMC are launching a consultation on proposals for what the future of nursing education will look like and it’s vitally important that they hear the views of the public on these proposals.
What is required of a nurse now is very different to what was required ten years ago and will be very different again in ten years’ time. Advancing technology, care in the community and a changing population all mean that care is being delivered differently. Over the last six months, the NMC has travelled the length and breadth of the country talking to nurses, their employers, trade unions, students and educators to get their views on what tomorrow’s nurse looks like. They are now at the stage where they want to hear from patients and the public about the things that really matter to them and what they will want to see from the nurse of 2030.
The NMC’s consultation on the future nurse standards opened on 13 June and will run for 13 weeks. On their website you will find details of the consultation on the proposed standards of proficiency for the future registered nurse and their draft education framework. They are also proposing to make changes to prescribing standards and to withdraw their standards for medicines management.
For more information, please visit www.nmc-uk.org
