Opinion  

This move will help improve access to medicines, particularly in areas such as palliative care and substance misuse. However, it has again highlighted the importance of nurse prescribers maintaining their knowledge and skills. Unfortunately, access to continuing professional development (CPD) remains patchy at best.

In recent years one of the things sacrificed as the NHS struggled with financial difficulties has been staff training and development. We hear time and again of nurses unable to access the training they need to develop their careers or ensure they remain up-to-date because funds are not available.

This week the Working in Partnership Programme is to release data that will show more than half of practice nurses need more training to do their current job. This is highly worrying. Investment in training is vital if the NHS is to ensure patient safety.

The new NMC Code of Conduct stresses that nurses and midwives are required to keep their knowledge up to date. The NMC has said that nurses can use the code to raise any concerns about access to training with employers. In addition, the long-awaited NMC standards for CPD for nurse prescribers look like they will finally be published this summer. These will also provide a lever for nurse prescribers to argue for funding for CPD.

But surely it should not have to come to this? Funding for ongoing education and cover for time off will always be at the discretion of employers, but the DoH has ruled out ordering NHS organisations to ringfence training budgets (DoH: NHS has enough nurses, IN, 21 January). While this is the case, access to CPD will remain patchy and nurses will be forced to argue for the support to which they should automatically be entitled.

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