NMC New post-registration standards published; consultation on education standards

I’m writing to update you on two important developments with our work on professional education:

• Publication of new post-registration standards for community and public health nurses
• Consultation on our education programme standards for pre-registration nursing and midwifery

New post-registration standards to help people and communities

We’ve now published our new post-registration standards for specialist community public health nurses (SCPHNs) and community nursing specialist practice qualifications (SPQs), along with the associated programme standards.

You can find the new post-registration standards here

The standards represent a step change in level of knowledge and skill compared with previous standards for specialist community and public health nursing.

They reflect the additional expertise specialist community nurses require to autonomously provide highly complex care and support for people in their own homes and communities. They also reflect the specialist nursing skills required to contribute to the improvement of public and population health.

They’ll support professionals to develop their careers and become the leaders, educators and researchers for community services of the future. They’ll also be a forerunner to our work to explore the regulation of advanced practice for all professionals on our register working in any setting. This work will begin soon.

The new post-registration standards now sit alongside our standards of proficiency for nurses, midwives and nursing associates. They complete our education programme to modernise all our standards of proficiency and education standards, which we began in 2016.

You can find all of our standards and supporting materials on our website.

Education programme standards: have your say

Our programme standards set out how nursing and midwifery courses should be delivered and taught.

We’ve proposed some changes to our pre-registration standards, following the UK’s departure from the EU. We hope these changes will offer more flexibility around simulated learning for nurses, and give education providers increased responsibility to set more inclusive entry requirements to programmes.

We’re also consulting on whether to remove EU requirements mandating particular placement settings, and remove any knowledge and skills requirements where these are now already incorporated in our standards of proficiency. Within the pre-registration midwifery programme we’re are proposing the addition of a new standard, which will require students to experience more than one maternity services provider.

You can respond to the consultation survey here

Your opinions will help us to ensure future professionals get the best possible education, so if you can, please complete the survey. It should only take around 20 minutes to complete.

Thank you

It’s taken a lot of work to develop and co-produce all of our standards over the last six years. I’m so grateful to everyone who has helped us during this time, from right across the healthcare sector and from all four countries of the UK.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how nurses and midwives will develop their practice in years to come, and how the NMC can play its part in supporting their vital work.

With best wishes

Prof Geraldine Walters CBE PhD RN

Executive Director, Professional Practice