Best Practice in Nursing Newspaper Issue 1

THE KEY RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SHAPE OF CARING REVIEW; THE NEXT STEPS FOR NURSING EDUCATION AND TRAINING The Shape of Caring review aimed to ensure that nurses receive consistent, high quality education and training over the next 15 years. I was tasked with looking ahead to foresee what the workforce will look like and what is needed to make it fit for purpose. It’s important to recognise the way in which we nurse and care for people in 5-15 years time will be significantly different from what it is now. There will be far greater emphasis on looking after people in the community. I looked at whether we have got things right now and we clearly do not. We currently have 1.3 million care staff who are not entitled to mandatory training. I have made a major recommendation about developing the Care Certificate and ultimately making it mandatory. Secondly, I recognised that there is a real gulf between nursing staff and care staff. I felt there was a need for a higher care worker, a role that would encompass many of the skills you would find within the nursing workforce. I’ve recommended an entirely new Band 3 post to work across health and social care. The role will have advanced care standards, designed by Health Education England. I remain deeply concerned about the quality of student nurse placements and I’ve made a number of sweeping recommendations to address this. Firstly, the mentoring system is not fit for purpose and we need to radically change this. I asked the NMC, as a matter of urgency, to look at professionalising mentoring and making it a career post. I also looked at the issue of four branches of nursing and I received a lot of evidence to say that this is restricting in many ways. As there’s going to be more emphasis on care in the community, I asked the NMC to look at whether we should have a general practice and community nursing strand to try and recruit nurses directly into primary care. I also suggested the first two years of nursing education and training should be replaced with an intensive, highly specialised whole person nursing course – learning all about the skills on caring for everyone from young babies through to end of life care. This would build into far greater work which at the moment is missing from many nursing courses. I’ve then recommended student nurses go into their specialist work for the final year and continue this for a further year after they have qualified. It’s really a 2+1+1 model that I’ve recommended. I have made a major recommendation about developing the Care Certificate and ultimately making it mandatory. I have been genuinely staggered by the response to the review. Health Education England didn’t just receive the report, their board immediately appointed an implementation team. Lisa Bayliss-Pratt, HEE’s Director of Nursing, is working on a whole set of different branches of the report for implementation. Everything from looking at the Magnet system of nursing (which I’ve recommended bringing in from the US) right through to the introduction of the new Band 3 posts. All of the recommendations are being actively looked at and that’s hugely encouraging. Secondly, I’m hugely impressed with what NMC are doing. I pay huge compliment to Jackie Smith, NMC’s Chief Executive, who has encouraged her board, together with the new chairman, to actively look at the recommendations. There’s a lot of work going on which is far more significant than, quite frankly, I could Lord Willis have hoped for. SP EA KE R Lord Willis, independent chair of the Shape of Caring review discusses the aims and key recommendations of the review plus next steps for nursing education and training. Best Practice in Nursing is supported by Health Education England, register to attend at www.bestpracticeshow.co.uk/nursingnews www.bestpracticeinnursing.co.uk Join the conversation @BPinNursing 13

Best Practice in Nursing Newspaper Issue 1 | Page 13