Won't this put further pressure on would be nurses?

[PatchGirl]

All new nurses in the UK from 2013 will have to spend at least three years being trained to degree level, the government has announced.

The move will help nurses meet the increasingly complex needs of patients more safely and effectively, it said.

The extra one or two years of training needed for nurses to obtain a degree will include a focus on them gaining experience in community health teams.

Current training involves a combination of theoretical and practical work as nurses work towards a diploma, but the new standards, which are open to consultation, will include a focus on giving students community health experience.

Trainees will also shadow school health nurses and district nurses who work with people in their own homes.

I'm slightly confused by this. I thought it was already a pre-requisite for nurses to do a degree course. In fact my sister-in-law is currently studying such a nursing degree course at Anglia Ruskin Uni in Cambridge.

The course combines classroom learning with work experience in the wards at Addenbrookes. However, she has just completed a week of community health experience visiting and caring for people in their homes. Is Anglia Ruskin unique in providing this standard?

I can remember the days when girls left school and went straight into a hospital to start training as a nurse in the place that really matters i.e. the hospital ward. To my mind nursing is a skill that can only be learnt by practical experience. In fact my sister-in-law frequently questions the value of the lectures and written assignments she has to complete.

Far be it from me to criticise the government's decision, but we already have a shortage of nurses in the UK. Won't this new move put even more people off training to be nurses?