Opinion  

The QNI exists to support nurses in primary care throughout their careers, from entry to entrepreneur. We aim to foster innovation and practice development; to inform nurses about policy developments; and to encourage them to actively influence the future wherever possible. It is no coincidence that so many QNI award winners, Queen's Nurses and alumni feature in this publication, as both authors and subjects of articles.

This is a key time for nursing in primary care. While the 'primary care-led NHS' has been a theme for many years, the practical mechanisms are now in place to make this a reality. Private, public and social enterprise providers, PMS contracts and commissioning all loosen the old framework of a hospital- and doctor-led system and make other models of care feasible for the first time. The economic realities of the costs of care, plus rising demand, will ensure change happens.

And it is at this pivotal moment that careers are under scrutiny. The DoH's Modernising Nursing Careers proposals and the NMC's review of pre-registration nursing offer changes to all elements of a nurse's career. They will change what nurses learn and experience before qualifying and hence who chooses to enter the profession.

Importantly for nurses in primary care, they will change the way nurses learn and qualify for the world outside hospital wards. This may feel like taking all the wheels off the bus at once, but it is time to decide whether the old bus is the best means of transport to the future of nursing, or if there is a better, more streamlined way to prepare and develop nurses.

Whichever view you take, this is an exciting time to be in primary care nursing. I look forward to sharing some thoughts about it with you over the coming months.

Comment below and tell us what you think

Rosemary Cook, director, Queen's Nursing Institute