Sam Foster

Practice learning is key to our future

In my role at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) I have frequently shared with colleagues my view that there is an opportunity for improved senior leadership of practice learning for student...

Fitness to practise: improving knowledge

When we have looked at the concerns raised by members of the public, the most common allegations relate to the following event allegations:.

Attracting young people into nursing

Using data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) large-scale Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (OECD, 2018), Guo and Hau (2023) showed the...

Investment in nursing reaps rewards

‘Enabling nurses to have the autonomy to work to their full scope of practice will create the most effectively run health systems at the lowest cost, while still delivering the highest quality of...

Getting to grips with generative AI

‘… a natural language processing chatbot driven by generative AI that allows you to have human-like conversations to complete various tasks. For example, the AI tool can answer questions and assist...

Do we know where we are heading?

‘Trust leaders want – and need – the NHS long term workforce plan to be a success. It is therefore deeply concerning that “significant weaknesses” in its modelling have been identified.’ .

Still a long way to go on patient safety

Outgoing Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Rob Behrens, in an interview with The Guardian (Campbell, 2024), said that there were still ‘too many examples of care not being safe’ and suggested...

Fitness to practise: the latest guidance

‘You uphold the reputation of your profession at all times. You should display a personal commitment to the standards of practice and behaviour set out in the Code.’ .

The needs of newly qualified nurses

A blueprint for the NHS

‘The Times Health Commission has been set up to consider the future of health and social care in England in the light of the pandemic, the growing pressure on budgets, the A&E crisis, rising waiting...

Recruitment challenges in social care

‘… high levels of professional autonomy and responsibility. This supports confident and innovative practice together with strong clinical decision-making. The multi-faceted nature of their role means...

What do we mean by accountability?

‘The professions we regulate have different knowledge and skills … They can work in diverse contexts and have different levels of autonomy and responsibility. However, all of the professions we...

Why we all need to speak up

‘In the NHS, we sensed a lack of psychological safety to speak up and listen, despite the excellent progress made since the Francis Report. We would observe that the Freedom to Speak Up initiative...

Practice hours: examining the evidence

This month, I joined a panel to discuss NHS England's NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (NHS England, 2023). The chair of the panel welcomed the plan, highlighting that significant funding was available to...

Striking the right balance

I have been building a list of things I would like to have known when I was a chief nurse that I have learnt since joining the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), to enable me to work with colleagues...