Towards the end of 2019, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) established an expert steering group to review how postregistration education and development has evolved and make recommendations. The NMC is exploring its current postregistration standards for specialist community and public health nursing (SCPHN) (NMC, 2001; 2004) and specialist practice qualifications (SPQs).
There is an absolute need to update these standards, they are dated, do not reflect contemporary practice and are no longer fit for purpose.
A transformation of all of the NMC education standards (pre-registration standards, prescribing standards, the NMC education framework and standards for student supervision and assessment) has been happening since 2016. The aim is to ensure that they are fit for purpose and that all registrants are prepared for and equipped with the skills and knowledge that are required to deliver high quality and safe care in a future-proofed way. COVID-19 has accelerated changes in practice and specialist community nurses have had to adapt to new challenges, new technologies and new ways of working. They prioritise the needs and care requirements of their patients, and keep people out of hospital.
Consultation is under way on postregistration standards, a consultation that is long overdue. Views are being sought on SCPHN for health visiting, occupational health nursing and school nurses, as well as SPQs for district nurses, general practice nurses, community learning disabilities nurses, community children's nurses and community mental health nurses. The SCPHN is a qualification that can be achieved by nurses who complete further education after their initial registration.
Nurses are also able to gain an NMC-approved SPQ. This qualification is ‘annotated’, next to the registrant's name on the register. The annotation demonstrates that they have successfully undertaken a course in a particular specialty approved by the NMC, it does not provide exclusive use of any protected title associated with the qualification.
The consultation runs until 2 August 2021. A series of webinars are being provided in events leading up to the consultation closure date to engage the public and registrants. The newly developed bespoke standards should be ambitious and transformative, they determine the additional knowledge and skills that registrants on the SCPHN part of the register will have to demonstrate so as to deliver high-quality care. The standards will aim to reflect the wider changes in society and, as such, they have to be dynamic and responsive to the continually changing needs of individuals, communities and populations across the lifespan in a range of care environments. It is hoped that the new standards will be published in 2022.
Draft standards have been produced (NMC, 2021a; 2021b; 2021c). The new standards must better reflect the work that many nurses in local communities are already undertaking. This will include the delivery of complex clinical care, leading and managing diverse teams, collaboration with multi-agency networks, promoting health and contributing to shaping local services.
There is more work for the NMC to do and this consultation provides a bridge to the next phase, to review advanced practice, as set out in the 2020-2025 strategy (NMC, 2020).
The new standards will impact all of us. It is therefore imperative that you make known your views on these NMC proposals.