We are all in this together:
the future of nursing
education
Lord Willis of Knaresborough
Chairman Willis Commission 2012
UK Context
 Austerity (for some people)
 Huge spending cuts in health and education
 Major health service restructuring
 Competition & commissioning
 Aging population
 Relentless headlines about NHS/nursing ‘crisis’
2016/3/24
What essential features of
pre-registration nursing
education in the UK, and
what types of support for
newly registered
practitioners, are needed
to create and maintain a
workforce of competent,
compassionate nurses fit
to deliver future health and
social care services?’
Commission Panel
Lord Willis of Knaresborough
Sheila Dilks, Executive Director of Transformation, West Cheshire
Clinical Commissioning Group
Jill Evans, Senior Education and Development Manager, Aneurin
Bevan Health Board
Dr Glynis Henry, Chief Executive, Northern Ireland Practice and
Education Council for Nursing and Midwifery
Sharon Northeast, Patient Voices Representative
Dr Subo Shanmuganathan, Head of Learning and development, Macmillan
Cancer Support
Professor Margaret Smith, Dean, School of Nursing and Midwifery,
University of Dundee
Veronica Snow, Lead Professional, South West Wales Cancer Network
Expert advisers
James Buchan, Professor, School of Health, Queen
Margaret University,Edinburgh
Baroness Cumberlege of Newick
Baroness Emerton of Tunbridge Wells
Celia Davies, Professor Emerita, The Open University
Fiona Ross, Dean of Faculty of Health and Social Care
Sciences, Kingston University and St George’s,
University of London
Collecting the Evidence
 80 organisations submitted written evidence
 23 experts were invited to give oral evidence.
 All parts of the UK were visited
 Recent literature
reviewed – Briggs Report from 1972!
 29 recommendations were made

–
Report unanimous view of Panel and
reviewers
Key Conclusion
 "It is important to say that the
commission found no major
shortcomings in nursing education
that could be held directly
responsible for poor practice or the
perceived decline in standards of
care"
2016/3/24
“Patient centred care should be the
golden thread that runs through all preregistration nursing education and
continuing professional development”
2016/3/24
Graduate
Programmes?
2016/3/24
"we found no evidence that there is
somehow a conflict between
intellect and compassion"
"If nurses are to lead a patient centred
healthcare system we need to attract the
most compassionate as well as the
brightest – these qualities are not
alternatives nor are they mutually
exclusive.
Recruiting Nursing
Students?
?
2016/3/24
Recruiting Nursing
Students?
2016/3/24
What to expect from a
'graduate' nurse?
2016/3/24
What to expect from a
'graduate' nurse?
We need nurses to be critical thinkers, to
challenge poor practice, to observe and
seek to improve and to be leaders of
clinical and non clinical teams.” Francis Report
“
2016/3/24
Improving teaching and research
"national clinical-academic career structure....
“ joint university healthcare roles for clinical
academics....
“persuade VC’s that nursing faculties must be
given resources to carry out research”
“If nursing research is fundamental to
improving care and patient outcomes and it
must be given greater priority”
Florence Nightingale wrote in 1872 to a student nurse at St Thomas’s:
"For us who nurse our nursing is a thing, which, unless we are making progress in it, every year, every month, ever
"For us who nurse our nursing is a thing, which,
unless we are making progress in it, every year,
every month, every week, take my word for it, we
are going back.“
Florence Nightingale wrote in 1872 to a student nurse at St Thomas’s
LEARNING TO NURSE
“Managers, mentors, practice education
facilitators, and academic staff must work
together to help students relate theory to
practice.”.
LEARNING TO NURSE
“Employers and universities must together identify positive
practice environments in a wide range of settings.”.
“The absence of funding to HEIs to support nursing students’
practical learning experiences must be addressed”
“Employers must ensure mentors have dedicated time for
mentorship, while universities should play their full part in
training and updating mentors.”
“Mentors must be selected for their knowledge, skills and
motivation; adequately prepared; well supported; and valued,
with a recognised status”
Health Care Support Workers
The Commission recommended – mandatory
standards, training, regulation and
registration of all HCW’s who directly deliver
patient care
Francis Report recommended - “A registration
system should be created under which no
unregistered person should be permitted to provide
for reward direct physical care to patients currently
under the care and treatment of a registered nurse or
registered doctor...” ( Francis Report Rec 209)
We are all
in this
together!?