The Nursing and Midwifery Council has released new standards for pre-registration student education this year, and alongside these new standards, there were alterations to the post registration training requirements for nurses. This article explores how the NMC requirements impact on community nurses and the patient experience: namely, the requirement that the NQN will be able to complete advanced assessments and diagnosis; prescriber ready at the end of the NQN year; and they will no longer have a placement mentor.

Debbie Duncan - Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queens University, Belfast

Jacqueline Johnstone - Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queens University, Belfast