It is essential that nursing students qualify with the right knowledge and skills to provide safe, effective and kind care for people's changing and increasingly complex needs. The Nursing and Midwifery Council's (NMC) (2018) standards of proficiency set out the knowledge and skills required. The pre-registration education programme standards set out how education institutions' innovative curricula can ensure nursing and midwifery students achieve these proficiencies. We recently introduced changes to our programme standards that will give educators the flexibility to deliver cutting edge programmes (NMC, 2023) to help make the UK a world leader in nursing and midwifery education.
The journey to updating our standards
Since the 1970s, the EU Directive has underpinned our education programme standards. The UK's departure from the EU presented the opportunity to set all the standards ourselves. We gathered initial views from more than 6200 voices across the UK, including professionals, students, employers, unions and education institutions. We also engaged with a wide range of nursing and midwifery subject experts and drew on best practice from regulators around the world. We used this insight to draft proposals, which we put out to public consultation, receiving more than 2500 responses from the public, professionals and students. Here's what we're changing and why.
Increased simulated practice learning
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we introduced emergency standards, allowing education institutions and their practice partners to deliver a proportion of practice learning through simulation. We're now making this permanent, allowing up to 600 hours of simulated practice learning within the 2300 practice hours required. Simulated practice learning methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated, helping students to build confidence and skills in situations that they may not encounter frequently in practice.
Placement settings
Contemporary health care takes place across a vast range of teams and settings, in hospitals, the community, social care and in public health. The list of nursing placements specified in the EU Directive (Keighley, 2009: 6) no longer reflects this diversity. We're therefore increasing the flexibility for educators to offer practice learning experiences and placements that are most relevant to their students.
More flexible entry requirements
Applicants will no longer need to evidence 12 years' general education before starting their programme. This will make nursing and midwifery more accessible to those who may not have received 12 years' education, such as refugees and those from travelling communities. Importantly, while degree programmes will become more accessible, education institutions will continue to have robust application processes to ensure all students reflect the maturity and competence expected of nurses.
Aligning our programme standards with our standards of proficiency
It's clear that the health and social care sector is constantly evolving, and so is the language we use. We've modernised the language within our programme standards to align with our updated standards of proficiency. To avoid any duplication, we're removing requirements that are already covered in our standards of proficiency. These revisions will ensure students qualify with an understanding of the wider changes in society and their effects on current and future health and care needs.
Moving forward
Some stakeholders want us to take our changes further. We've committed to exploring further changes, particularly around the number of practice learning hours students need.
Thank you
It is vital that students join our register with the confidence, skills and knowledge to provide the care people deserve. We're grateful to everyone who has been involved in this work to date. These changes are a milestone for nursing and midwifery education, and we look forward to continuing our work with students, educators and stakeholders in the future.