Blog from Ivan Olbrechts – Family and friends member rep
Learning Disability England has been supporting the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as they try to increase the quality and safety of nursing.
They want to do this by improving regulation of nurses in advanced practice roles.
In nursing, advanced practice means registered nurses with extra education and training that mean they can practice at a higher level.
This includes carrying out tasks such as assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.
Patients booking a GP appointment for example may sometimes see an advanced practice nurse instead. Advanced practitioners also play key roles in many other areas of healthcare.
What’s the problem?
At the moment, The NMC does not regulate advanced practice in nursing and midwifery. This has led to lots of different job titles in advanced practice, such as:
- Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP)
- Nurse Practitioner (NP)
- Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)
- Advanced Nurse/Midwife Practitioner (ANP/AMP)
- Consultant Midwife (CM)
- Consultant Nurse (CN)
This means anyone can use the title “advanced practitioner,” even though many advanced practitioners have formal qualifications and training.
This lack of regulation means more risk for both the quality and professionalism of nursing and the safety and care of patients.
What’s Changing?
An independent report showed these challenges and the NMC has developed phased changes that aim to standardize and regulate advanced practice.
These changes focus on balancing public safety with the needs of the healthcare workforce.
Proposed updates include:
- Defining advanced practice clearly.
- Developing advanced practice education standards.
- Revising revalidation processes to include advanced practice competencies.
- Introducing transitional arrangements to integrate current practitioners without disrupting the workforce.
- Updating the public register to reflect advanced practice qualifications and registration.
Who’s Involved?
Consultations with healthcare professionals, employers, and educators have shown strong support for regulating advanced practice to improve standardization and reduce risks.
International nurses have also expressed that regulation could enhance credibility, consistency, and patient safety.
Learning Disability England representative Ivan Olbrechts is part of the NMC’s Advanced Practice Public Advisory Group.
This includes a range of representatives across health and social care and lived experience.
You can get in touch with Ivan and share your views on this topic by emailing:
info@ldengland.org.uk
The NMC has collected other feedback from people with learning disabilities and their families too.
You can sign-up and keep up to date with the changes here with more detail on the NMC website including some videos of people’s experiences of advanced practice.
You too can be involved and provide your thoughts to the NMC here. Please note, feedback closes on Monday 9th December 2024.