Queen’s Nursing Institute issues voluntary district nursing standards

New standards for district nursing education and practice have been released today by the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) to “enhance” the current standards from 1994.

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Currently, the standards that define the specialist practice of a district nurse were developed in 1994 by the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC) and have not been updated since then by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

The voluntary standards have been created by the QNI and Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland (QNIS) to modernise standards for district nurses, and “will enhance, not replace, the existing NMC standards” and “support the development of education programmes for contemporary and future practice”.

Clare Cable, chief executive and nurse director of QNIS, said: “As all four countries move towards integrated health and social care, the need to articulate the role of the district nurse and the generalist specialist skills which they bring is vital.  This is a timely contribution to the conversations we are all having about delivering high quality care at home.”

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Following a consultation over the summer months, the final standards are being launched today at the QNI conference in London.

Mary Saunders, who was seconded from South Bank University to lead the project, stated: “The process included the observation of district nurses in practice across the UK, which allowed us to develop these standards based on the wide range of skills they require.”

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The standards will be available here by 5pm today