Across the UK, every nursing career begins with pre‑registration education through a degree or apprenticeship route. Yet students in all four nations report significant variation in the quality of clinical placements, an issue that becomes increasingly important with the NMC’s proposal to reduce required placement hours (NMC, 2025). With less time in practice, the standard of learning environments must be consistently high to ensure students gain the knowledge, confidence and competence they need.

Evidence shows that poor practice environments contribute to student attrition (Community Research, 2024; Jones-Berry, 2019), affecting workforce supply across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Access to practice educators and facilitators also varies widely across the UK, despite their proven value in supporting students and strengthening links between theory and practice.

Factors such as unprotected supernumerary status, inconsistent supervision, limited preparation of staff, and reluctance from registrants to take on supervisor and assessor roles can also all undermine learning. While simulation has an important place in enhancing practice learning, it cannot compensate for inadequate real‑world experience.

As pressures on clinical services grow, ensuring high‑quality placements benefits not only students, but future patients and the entire nursing workforce.

This Congress, we are calling for discussion on how to secure consistent, proactive and engaging learning opportunities for all nursing students.

References

Community Research (2024) Addressing student nursing attrition in England: A research report for the Royal College of Nursing. Available at: rcn.org.uk/About-us/Our-Influencing-work/Policy-briefings/br-0525 (Accessed 24 March 2026).

Jones-Berry S (2019) Are we losing the battle with nursing student attrition? Nursing Standard, 34(9), pp. 31-33. doi: 10.7748/ns.34.9.31.s14

Nursing and Midwifery Council (2025) NMC proposes changes to standards to improve practice learning. Available at: nmc.org.uk/news/news-and-updates/nmc-proposes-changes-to-standards-to-improve-practice-learning (Accessed 24 March 2026).