Posted 05 August 2021 - 15:50
Posted 05 August 2021 - 15:50
News
NMC’s controversial overhaul of post-registration standards – what happens next
Standards in five fields of practice could be amalgamated, under regulator’s proposal
Standards for five fields of nursing practice could be amalgamated despite profession’s concerns – but regulator will weigh results of consultation before final decision is announced
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has outlined the next stage of its controversial proposals to overhaul post-registration nursing standards for the first time in more than a decade.
The regulator said its post-registration steering group will consider responses to a public consultation, which is now closed, on proposed changes to nine specialist practice qualifications (SPQs) by 2023. In turn, the organisation’s governing council will review the issue before a decision on whether to adopt the standards is made at a public meeting.
Concern about homogenised post-registration standards
Under the plans, five SPQs – for community children’s nursing, community learning disability nursing, community mental health nursing, general practice nursing and district nursing – would be replaced by a single, common standard.
However, concerns have been raised by the Queen’s Nursing Institute and the RCN about a single set of standards applying to all the fields of practice.
The NMC received more than 2,000 consultation responses from the profession, employers, educators and the public.
NMC executive director of professional practice Geraldine Walters said it was too soon to speculate on the outcome.
She added: ‘The regulatory standards we ultimately take to council will be the best they can be – supporting professionals to deliver highly skilled and expert care that improves people’s health well into the future.’
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