NMC given go-ahead to consult on reducing nursing student hours

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) will proceed with a consultation on proposed changes to student nursing education standards after being given the greenlight by its governing council.

Following council approval at a meeting on Wednesday, the NMC will consult on reducing programme hours and introducing a new requirement for a community-based placement for nursing students, among other changes.

The NMC said last week that a consultation would likely be launched between February and March 2026. Any updates to its education standards following the consultation would happen ‘from September 2026’.

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Key proposed changes for nursing students include reducing the requirement for 4,600 programme hours for nursing students to 3,600 hours. The split for theory and practice learning would remain at a balance of 50% – meaning practice learning hours would reduce from 2,400 to 1,800 and the same for theory hours.

The NMC will also consult on adding a new requirement that would mean nursing students must have a practice learning opportunity within a community setting.

Separately, the NMC is proposing specific changes to midwifery education, including exploring whether to extend the duration of midwifery programmes.

It said this followed ‘stakeholder concerns that programmes are not long enough, and agreement that any additional requirements would mean increasing the course length’.

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Other proposals for midwifery education includes:

• Including a requirement to holistically assess students’ competence and confidence in labour and birth when supporting and caring for 40 births
• Strengthening wording to ensure consistency and greater emphasis on care for women with additional and complex needs
• Exploring options for a pre-qualifying placement to better support midwifery students’ transition to registered practice.

Commenting on being given the go-ahead to consult on the proposals, Donna O’Boyle, acting executive director of professional practice at the NMC, said: ‘This is a central pillar of our professional practice roadmap. It exists to help us modernise our standards and make sure we fulfil our legislative and organisational responsibilities to protect the public.

‘The broad evidence base and very broad stakeholder engagement have really validated the work undertaken to date, and it’s clear that the modernisation of practice learning environments and workforce challenges right across the UK require us to look where we can and improve our processes as much as possible.

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‘Our role is to be facilitative and to support the best way for learning, ensuring organisations are working to the standards of proficiency.’

The NMC previously suggested its research into nursing and midwifery education found that many students across the UK benefit from ‘positive practice learning experiences’, but that the ‘quality of these experiences vary’.