Advanced nursing practice: is a bright new era in sight at last?
The Nursing and Midwifery Council is to publish principles for advanced nursing practice – 20 years after they were first mooted. The move finally to define advanced practice will prompt plans for regulation and the move has been welcomed by the profession and unions. If it is done properly, by establishing appropriate pay scales for advanced skills, this could herald a new era for nurses practising at an advanced level and for the profession.
Principles for advanced practice are to be published 20 years after being first mooted, heralding what could be a new era – and we must hope – better pay
Alt text: Advanced practitioners welcome new principles of practice: a nurse carries out a throat examination on a young patient
Finally, some good news… principles for advanced nursing practice have been laid out for the first time by the profession’s regulator.
It’s fair to say that registrants don’t often associate ‘good news’ with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) – especially of late. However, the publication of the principles this summer is a positive development, setting out the definition of advanced practice and plans for future regulation.
Principles will provide clarity and uniformity for advanced roles
Those longer in the tooth will know the idea was first mooted more than 20 years ago and has been twice dismissed by the NMC. Now it’s hoped it will be third time lucky for nursing, with unions broadly supporting the move to provide more clarity and uniformity for advanced roles.
However, the devil will be in the detail and there is still a lot more work to be done before 2029, when advanced practice is reflected on the nursing register for the first time. This includes the agreement of proficiency standards and programme standards for education providers, alongside incorporation into the Code and revalidation.
Advanced nursing skills must be recognised in pay scales
There is also the question of what this means for pay progression. Recent job evaluation work by the NHS Staff Council for Agenda for Change bands 7, 8 and 9 sparked concern in the RCN that they didn’t fully recognise experience and clinical expertise. Without adequate funding and updated job descriptions to match, the job evaluation work and advanced practice standards will only fuel fears of advanced practice meaning doing more work for the same pay (or even less if overall pay doesn’t keep up with inflation).
But if done properly, the standards could herald a new era for nursing in which advanced practice is given the recognition and regulation it deserves. Now that would be really good news.
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Nursing and Midwifery Council: Principles for advanced practice
