NMC and CNOs respond to Mental Health Deserves Better open letter

On 21 February 2023, the Mental Health Deserves Better group published an open letter addressed to the NMC and the four UK Chief Nursing Officers (CNOs), calling for a review of our future nurse standards and how we implement them. The letter raises concerns about the impact our standards may have on mental health nursing education and the quality of care people receive from these nursing professionals once they join our register.

Our future nurse standards are outcomes focused, reflecting the knowledge and skills all nurses need and must demonstrate to join our register. They promote a person-centred, holistic approach to care which is relevant across all four fields of nursing. This supports approved education institutions (AEIs) to develop innovative curricula so that newly qualified professionals can deliver the safe, effective, and kind care everyone has the right to expect.

We keep our standards under regular review and welcome constructive feedback so that people who use services continue to receive the highest-quality care. We’ve listened to the concerns raised about our standards and we are engaging with Mental Health Deserves Better members, Mental Health Nurse Academics UK (MHNAUK), and other key stakeholders in an open and transparent way. As part of this, we’ve published the following response in collaboration with the four CNOs.

Joint response to 'mental health deserves better'

Further information:

• Last year, we published a blog by our Senior Nursing Adviser, Professor Paula Jane Holt MBE, and Nursing Education Adviser Dr Julie Dixon about how we produce our standards, and their relevance across the four fields of practice.

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