Practical hands-on training and experience
There should be a national entry-level requirement that student nurses spend a minimum period of time, at least three months, working on the direct care of patients under the supervision of a registered nurse. Such experience should include direct care of patients, ideally including the elderly, and involve hands-on physical care. Satisfactory completion of this direct care experience should be a pre-condition to continuation in nurse training. Supervised work of this type as a healthcare support worker should be allowed to count as an equivalent. An alternative would be to require candidates for qualification for registration to undertake a minimum period of work in an approved healthcare support worker post involving the delivery of such care.
- The Care Certificate was launched on 1 April 2015 as a standardised induction for all new healthcare assistants and social care support workers, covering 15 standards to be completed within 12 weeks of employment. It was developed jointly by HEE, Skills for Care, and Skills for Health following the Cavendish Review (2013), itself a response to Mid Staffordshire (Care Certificate, HEE/Skills for Care/Skills for Health, April 2015).
- Lord Willis's "Raising the Bar: Shape of Caring" review (March 2015) recommended creating pathways from healthcare assistant to nursing, enabling care experience to count towards nurse training (Raising the Bar: Shape of Caring, HEE, March 2015).
- The NMC's 2018 Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses require a minimum of 2,300 practice hours across the programme, with placements in a range of settings including direct patient care. Practice experience must include care of older people in a variety of settings (Future Nurse: Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses, NMC, 2018).
- The nursing associate role, with NMC registration from January 2019, provides a structured route from healthcare assistant to registered professional, with a two-year foundation degree programme that includes substantial supervised clinical practice (Nursing Associates Programme, HEE/NMC, 2017–2019).
How was this evidence gathered?
Response
Accepted
Response
AcceptedThe government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" in March 2013. Key reforms included a new Chief Inspector of Hospitals, strengthened Care Quality Commission inspection regime, a statutory duty of candour, and the fit and proper person test for NHS directors. Volume 2 (Cm 8754) contains the government's detailed responses to each of the 290 recommendations. See: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7cd486ed915d63cc65d167/34658_Cm_8777_Vol_1_accessible.pdf
Published Evidence
Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.
Research published 2023 marking ten years since the Francis Report found mixed results. Structural and legislative changes largely delivered (duty of candour, FPPR, CQC overhaul, revalidation, Freedom to Speak Up Guardians). However, cultural change not fully embedded; understaffing, fear of speaking up, and poor complaint handling persist in parts of the NHS.
NMC Revalidation launched 1 April 2016 in direct response to Francis Report. All nurses and midwives must revalidate every three years. Replaced the Post-Registration Education and Practice system. Updated NMC Code published March 2015 strengthened requirements around candour and raising concerns.
Care Certificate launched 1 April 2015 as standardised induction training for all new healthcare assistants and social care support workers. Covers 15 standards (updated to 16). Implements recommendations from Cavendish Review (July 2013) and Francis Report on healthcare support worker training.
NMC published updated Code of Professional Standards for nurses and midwives (March 2015). Standard 14 specifically requires nurses and midwives to be open and candid with all service users about all aspects of care, including when mistakes or harm have occurred.
Government published "Culture Change in the NHS" (Cm 9009) reporting progress on all 290 recommendations. Key achievements: 19 hospitals placed in special measures; those trusts recruited 109 additional doctors and 1,805 additional nurses; 129 board-level changes made; excess avoidable deaths fell by 450 in less than a year.
Government published "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) in two volumes. Vol 1 set out new actions; Vol 2 provided detailed response to each of the 290 recommendations. Approximately 204 of 290 recommendations were fully accepted.