References

Council of Deans of Health. Briefing: UCAS deadline applicant statistics for January 2024. 2024a. https//tinyurl.com/4y8jadsy

Council of Deans of Health, University Alliance, MillionPlus. Open letter to incoming government. 2024b. https//www.unialliance.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GE24-joint-letter.pdf

NHS England. NHS long term workforce plan. 2023. https//tinyurl.com/4xmzs2nd

Scottish Government. Nursing and midwifery: taskforce. 2023. https//www.gov.scot/groups/nursing-and-midwiferytaskforce

WhereTo Research Based Consulting; for Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. Consultation and research summary report. 2024. https//tinyurl.com/2nxpjfrc

Practice learning is key to our future

18 July 2024
Volume 33 · Issue 14

Abstract

Sam Foster, Executive Director of Professional Practice, Nursing and Midwifery Council, looks at the work being carried out in the UK and internationally to ensure that we can build and sustain the nursing workforce

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 nurses in partnership with NMC-approved education institutions by nurse leaders across health and social care providers. One of the key goals in NHS England's (2023)Long Term Workforce Plan is to increase the number of nursing students, but this goes against a backdrop of a 7% drop in applications to nursing programmes for 2023/24 reported by UCAS (Council of Deans of Health, 2024a). There is some targeted work to do.

An open letter jointly signed by key education leaders before the election called for the next prime minister to support a whole-government approach to improving the domestic pipeline of nurses by taking responsibility for closer collaboration between universities and healthcare providers to increase student uptake (Council of Deans of Health et al, 2024b).

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