Background

Following a series of investigations about poor nursing care in England,1 ,2 Health Education England and the Nursing and Midwifery Council commissioned a review of nurse education. The Shape of Caring: Raising the Bar (2015) review was published in March 2015 and its recommendations included:

• Exploring the ‘2+1+1’ model of training: a 2-year training focusing on the whole person (physical and mental health), 1 year in a chosen specialism, followed by a full year’s preceptorship;

• The one year ‘specialism’ to include adult, child, mental health, learning disability and community nursing;

• A greater focus on mental health issues across all ‘specialisms’;

• A strong grounding in critical inquiry to foster an ability to engage in research and implement research findings into …