Responding to the Nuffield Trust report ‘Practice learning in nursing and midwifery education’ RCN UK Head of Nursing Practice Stephen Jones said:
“High quality practice placements are crucial to a student nurse’s education to develop their skills and prepare them to join our brilliant profession. But as this report makes clear, an overstretched workforce and under-resourced healthcare system cannot guarantee a high-quality learning environment. Staff, supervisors and assessors are unable to dedicate time to help students learn, whilst students themselves are routinely denied supernumerary status and forced to fill rota gaps. This is unacceptable.
“Reforming NHS services and transforming care means taking another look at nurse education, including whether we need a greater focus on quality of placement hours, rather than quantity. Governments and health leaders need to recognise that without a strong, well-resourced nursing workforce, educating the nurses of the future will continue to be a challenge. This is especially true in community and primary care, two crucial services which haven’t got the capacity to provide consistent, high-quality placements.
“The NMC should act on the report's findings and undertake the necessary work to improve the standards and consistency of education to better outcomes for all students.
“Fixing nurse education, however, is also about addressing funding. Inadequate financial support for students makes the cost of travel to placements a significant challenge, sometimes impacting on their ability to pay rent or afford food. Current systems for claiming back expenses are too complex to navigate and require students to front up costs regardless.
“All students deserve properly funded support to help them through each and every stage of their education.”
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Notes to editors
Nuffield Trust - Practice learning in nursing and midwifery education: an independent rapid review
