The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) has developed field specific standards for a further three recognised specialisms within community nursing, adding to the six published last year.
The new standards are in the fields of health and justice nursing, community learning disability nursing, and palliative and end of life care nursing.
A consultation on the draft standards for the three specialisms was launched in October 2023. Field-specific standards for adult social care nursing, community children’s nursing, community mental health nursing, district nursing, general practice nursing, and inclusion health nursing were published in July 2023.
All of the QNI field-specific standards are mapped to the four pillars of advanced practice: clinical care, leadership and management, education and assessing learning, and evidence, research and development.
They build on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Specialist Practitioner Qualifications (SPQ) standards from 2022 and are designed to be used by higher education institutions (HEIs) offering the SPQ.
HEIs can develop and map their SPQ courses to the QNI’s standards through an endorsement process. Endorsed programmes will be listed on the QNI website and successful students will receive QNI certifications.
Dr Crystal Oldman, QNI chief executive, said: ‘There are real benefits to nurses, employers and patients flowing from the QNI field specific standards.
‘Nurses graduating from SPQ programmes endorsed by the QNI will have recognised skills and knowledge, mapped against all relevant national standards, to enable them to practise and to lead teams at an advanced level, improving care for patients, families and residents with complex needs.’
In an interview with Nursing in Practice last year, Dr Oldman said the new standards were part of a wider drive around ‘changing the narrative’ for community care.
In addition, the QNI’s Bethan Cornick explained what the standards mean for nurses in a Nursing in Practice Q&A.
