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“‘They can say what they like, you need knowledge to care.’ I think that sums it up.”, says Deborah Sturdy in the lead article on the issue of introducing an all graduate nursing profession by 2013.

How could I possibly disagree with that? I don’t. It is with relief that at last a plan has been formulated to allow nurses within the UK to stand equally with our overseas counterparts and be able to demonstrate that our training programme is as robust and grounded as theirs. However the devil will be in the detail. As a Registered Nurse (RN) who qualified via the “traditional training method” (a waged student) I would add a word of caution to the debate.

The argument here cannot be about whether a degree programme is a good thing or not, it has to be about whether that programme reflects the needs of our client group and whether those individuals who are the best potential recruits into the profession are equipped educationally to get a place in one of our academic institutions.

To illustrate my point, at 23, I was considered a mature student. I passed all of the required assessments as I progressed through my training, including the academic ones. But the skills I found myself calling on most were not those acquired through academic study. They were the skills gained during my earlier career in the retail industry and during my time as a volunteer, both with the Police and as a volunteer ambulance association (the latter job included mopping floors in a home for the elderly at weekends).

Gaining knowledge is not simply a process of absorbing text and being able to cite a reference (although these abilities can be useful when trying to make a point). Knowledge, as we know, is gained from all manner of experience. I remember as a child sitting in the “day room” of a home for the elderly and hearing a gentleman’s memories of what it was like to be in the trenches in the Great War. Even now, the hairs on the back of my neck rise despite his version being edited for the ears of a 9 year old.

Throughout my career I have held many responsible posts. I am pleased to say that my managers have all appeared happy with the care I have provided and with my contribution to the developments in those environments. However, should I apply to train as a nurse now I would not qualify. I would fall at the first hurdle of the application process.

I do not know the proportion of individuals on my intake who would have been considered “mature students” but on reflection, I would guess that it was a third. The majority of those have gone on to provide excellent care as RN’s. My concern would be that now, with the introduction of an all degree profession, those excellent nurses would never be recruited. Their skills, talent, knowledge and ability to empathise would be lost to the nursing profession.

It would be interesting to look at the comparison between recruitment from the mature age group now, as opposed to 20 years ago. It also has to be said that the loss of a waged programme would have deterred this group. Who would risk their home and livelihood on a vocation in the current climate by giving up a secure income for a bursary with no guarantee of employment at the end?

Two points were raised with me recently, the first understandably, was the anxiety raised by a nurse with similar training to my own, that she may be forced into taking a degree programme simply to stand still and secondly, by a senior nurse who observed that realistically, it is very difficult in practical terms to differentiate currently between a degree and non-degree qualified nurse.

RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, Dr Peter Carter said: 'This is not about restricting entry to the nursing profession, in fact we must ensure that the door to nursing continues to be as wide as possible…we need a nurse education system which encourages the best entrants to pursue a career in care.'

I echo Dr Carter’s comments. Let’s find a way to wedge this door open and develop radical programmes which will allow us to educate our successors to use all of their talents.

We need to ensure that anxieties are addressed and that the educational process reflects the needs of our ever developing health service. Phrases like “with early opportunities for postgraduate achievement” www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_108370.pdf may serve to help in the recruitment of undergraduates from schools and colleges but they may not prove enticing to a wider group of potential nurses. Many nursing skills are inherently practical, this should not be forgotten in the new courses and time must be allowed for proper course development.

Proven ability in these skills, as well as academic understanding needs to be assessed before a rapid scramble up the career ladder can be taken.
I fear the need to have courses up and running by September 2011 may be too short a period to allow for a full consultation with those nurses who know what is needed, those who work at the sharp end and ultimately will have to guide the practice of their newly qualified colleagues.

Aidan Dunphy RN
Older Persons Research Nurse
(working toward a degree)

BGS Newsletter, February 2010
Issue 25 ISSN 1748-634000 25