Today, the government has announced that nursing is to
become an all-degree profession.

Last year, I wrote about why making nursing a degree
profession was a positive step – the crux of the argument was that nursing has
changed significantly in recent years and, now that nurses are taking on more
advanced roles and tasks, a degree better prepares them for this.

But of course concerns remain. Unions are worried that
people who would have made excellent nurses will be put off by the academic
rigour a degree requires, while others believe the move simply promotes the ‘too posh to wash’ image of nursing.

With proper support systems and access courses in place
there should be no reason why people who would have traditionally trained on
the diploma could not undertake a degree. Meanwhile, problems relating to nurses being ‘too posh to wash’ are rarely to do with nurses’ level of training. In
most instances when patients or their families complain about the nursing care
they have received it usually comes down to poor staffing levels on wards or in
nursing teams.

At its heart, nursing is a profession that is dedicated to
caring for patients and looking after their personal needs as much
as their clinical needs. Dignity and compassion are the cornerstone of nursing
and must remain central to any nurse’s training.

However, the reality is that healthcare support workers now have
an increasingly important role to play in delivering the basic, personal care
that patient require. Perhaps it is now time that the government looked
seriously at setting standards and regulation for this group to ensure
that they are safe, competent and properly equipped with the skills to meet patients’ needs.

For those not necessarily able to undertake a nursing degree
straight away, a period as a support worker could form part of their route into nursing. This is currently the case for many people, but should this career path be
formalised again? Is a return of the enrolled nurse the way to go?