Quality with Compassion - The Willis Commission Report

Recent reports of poor quality nursing care have sometimes implied that the training and education nurses receive, in particular the academic nature of nursing courses, is at fault. There has been a particular focus on graduate nurses showing a lack of compassion and being unprepared for the practical side of caring for patients.

The Willis Commission has led an independent inquiry into what excellent pre-registration nursing education should look like and have published their findings this week. We are delighted that the Commission strongly supports the idea that nurses are provided with the right education, training and skills to equip them for the demanding and rewarding career ahead of them.

Lord Willis and a panel of independent experts engaged with stakeholders and reviewed a wealth of evidence of what constitutes excellent nurse education. The Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery and some of our current students contributed to this enquiry with evidence from our own nursing programmes.

Their report highlights that our future healthcare system will require well educated graduate nurses to practise and lead nursing and healthcare teams in a variety of roles, and we support the move to make nursing an all-graduate career as is already the case in most developed countries. Due to the constant advancements in healthcare, and the changing health needs of our population, it is now essential that nurses have a high level of academic ability. The level of knowledge required and the need for ongoing knowledge acquisition and translation into safe practice is vital.

The report also highlights the need for patient-centred care to be at the core of all pre-registration nursing curricula. Being caring and compassionate is the essence of who we are and what we do. These values are embedded in our nursing and midwifery degree programmes. We select our students not only on the basis of their academic abilities, but also on a range of core values and attributes that are essential to the role, such as interpersonal skills, aptitude and motivation for their chosen career.

We work closely with our NHS partners to ensure we select the right students.  Our selection days include interviews with our own academic staff, as well as clinical staff from some of our placement providers, who can offer a unique perspective on the vocational skills and traits required to be an excellent nurse.

We welcome the Willis Commission Report as its recommendations are already embedded in our programmes.

For more information about the work of the Commission and their findings click here.