Our Standards for prescribing programmes sets out the legal requirements, entry requirements, availability of
recognition of prior learning, requirements for supervision and assessment and information on the award for all NMC approved prescribing programmes.
Student nurse and midwife prescribers in the UK must successfully complete an NMC approved post-registration prescribing programme in order to meet the standards of proficiency necessary for an annotation to be made against an entry on the NMC register as a nurse or midwife prescriber.
Public safety is central to our standards. Students will be in contact with people throughout their education and it’s important that they learn in a safe and effective way.
These programme standards should be read with the NMC’s Standards framework for nursing and midwifery education and Standards for student supervision and assessment, both of which apply to all NMC approved
programmes. NMC Approved Education Institutions (AEIs) intending to deliver our prescribing programmes must comply with all these standards to run an approved programme.
Education providers structure their educational programmes to comply with our programme standards. They also design their curricula around the published proficiencies for a particular programme and students are assessed against these proficiencies to make sure they are capable of providing safe, effective and kind care that improves health and wellbeing.
Proficiencies are the knowledge, skills and behaviours that nurses andmidwives need in order to practise. We publish standards of proficiency for the nursing and midwifery professions as well as proficiencies for NMC
approved post-registration qualifications.
Our standards for education and training highlight the need for programmes to adopt an inclusive approach to recruitment, selection and progression, ensuring admissions and all other academic processes are open, fair,
transparent and demonstrate an understanding of and take measures to address underrepresentation.
Through our quality assurance processes we check that education programmes meet all of our standards regarding the structure and delivery of educational programmes, that the programme outcomes relate to the expected proficiencies for particular qualifications and that AEIs and practice learning partners are managing risks effectively. Using internal and external intelligence we monitor risks to quality in education and training;
this intelligence gathering includes analysis of system regulator reports.
We believe that involving people who use services and members of the public in the planning and delivery of curricula will promote public confidence in the education of nursing and midwifery professionals. We expect the use of supportive evidence and engagement from people who have experienced care.
Before any programme can be run, we make sure it meets our standards. We do this through an approvals process, in accordance with our quality assurance framework.
AEIs, their practice learning partners, and employers all have ownership and accountability for the development, delivery and management of nurse and midwife prescriber programmes, including curricula and assessment, in line
with our standards.
Legislative framework
Article 19(6) of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001 (‘the Order’) allows the NMC to establish standards for education and training that lead to additional qualifications which may be recorded on the NMC register.
The Standards for prescribing programmes are made under this provision.
