The Platt Report (1964) or the Platt Report(s) on the Reform of Nursing Education was the report of Harry Platt upon the investigations of a committee established by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). It made recommendations about how nurses should be educated and what prior qualifications should be required in order to begin nurse training in England.
By the 1960s, problems with recruitment of nurses to the National Health Service had been identified by studies, questionnaires, and job analyses. [1] As many as 10,000 students failed to complete training and wastage rates were as high as 50 percent. [2]
The RCN established a committee chaired by Platt to look at nursing education and suggest ways to reduce loss of staff during training or soon afterwards. Committee members included Annie Altschul, Barbara Fawkes, Catherine Hall, John Greene and Winifred Hector. [3]
The Platt Report was published in 1964. [4]
The Platt Report proposed that to be accepted onto nurse training, people should have a minimum of five O-Levels. [2]
The Platt Report stated that trainee nurses should receive two years of academic study and monitored clinical experience, followed by an exam, then another year of work in a hospital under supervision. [2]
Nurse training had to cover general medicine and surgery, gynaecology, paediatrics, ear nose and throat medicine, ophthalmology and dermatology. [5]
All nurse training schools were to have access to hospitals or groups of hospitals with 300 beds or more. [5]
The Platt Report recommended that student nurses remained employees funded by Regional Health Authorities and paid a grant. [6] It recommended different courses for state registered nurses (SRN) and state enrolled nurses (SEN), with a SEN required to complete two years' training and have their name on a roll and an SRN a three-year training programme and have their name on a professional register. Both would receive training grants. [6]
As Health Minister, Kenneth Robinson rejected suggestions from the Platt Report. [5]
The General Nursing Council questioned the Report's "move away from a vocational ethos of nursing." [6]
In 1969, the Welsh School of Medicine created a course that provided the first route to a degree in nursing. [6]
The Bachelor of Science in Nursing also known in some countries as a Bachelor of Nursing (BN) or Bachelor of Science (BS) with a Major in Nursing is an academic degree in the science and principles of nursing, granted by an accredited tertiary education provider. The course of study is typically three or four years. The difference in degree designation may relate to the amount of basic science courses required as part of the degree, with BScN and BSN degree curriculums requiring completion of more courses on math and natural sciences that are more typical of BSc degrees and BN curriculums more focused on nursing theory, nursing process, and teaching versions of general science topics that are adapted to be more specific and relevant to nursing practice. Nursing school students are generally required to take courses in social and behavioral sciences and liberal arts, including nutrition, anatomy, chemistry, mathematics, and English. In addition to those courses, experience in physical and social sciences, communication, leadership, and critical thinking is required for a bachelor's degree. BSN programs typically last 2–4 years. Someone who holds a BSN can work in private or public medical and surgical hospitals, physician's offices, home health care services, and nursing facilities. Having a BSN can result in more opportunities and better salary than just an associate degree.
Nurse education consists of the theoretical and practical training provided to nurses with the purpose to prepare them for their duties as nursing care professionals. This education is provided to student nurses by experienced nurses and other medical professionals who have qualified or experienced for educational tasks, traditionally in a type of professional school known as a nursing school of college of nursing. Most countries offer nurse education courses that can be relevant to general nursing or to specialized areas including mental health nursing, pediatric nursing, and post-operative nursing. Nurse education also provides post-qualification courses in specialist subjects within nursing.
A licensed practical nurse (LPN), in much of the United States and Canada, is a nurse who provides direct nursing care for people who are sick, injured, convalescent, or disabled. In the United States, LPNs work under the direction of physicians, mid-level practitioners, and may work under the direction of registered nurses depending on their jurisdiction.
Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in several countries, including the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies.
The Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) is a large teaching hospital. With a capacity of around 1,000 beds, the hospital campus covers an area of around 8 hectares, and straddles the Townhead and Dennistoun districts on the north-eastern fringe of the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. It is managed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. It was originally opened in 1794, with the present main building dating from 1914, with a major extension completed in 1982.
Nursing in the United Kingdom is the largest health care profession in the country. It has evolved from assisting doctors to encompass a variety of professional roles. Over 700,000 nurses practice, working in settings such as hospitals, health centres, nursing homes, hospices, communities, military, prisons, and academia. Most are employed by the National Health Service (NHS).
Annie Therese Altschul, CBE, BA, MSc, RGN, RMN, RNT, FRCN was Britain's first mental health nurse pioneer; a midwife, researcher, educator, author and a patient advocate, emeritus professor of nursing.
Dame Catherine Mary Hall was a British nurse and nursing administrator who was a long serving General Secretary of the UK's Royal College of Nursing (1957–1982).
Sir Harry Platt, 1st Baronet, FRCS, KStJ was an English orthopaedic surgeon, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1954–1957). He was a founder of the British Orthopaedic Association, of which he became president in 1934–1935.
The history of nursing in the United Kingdom relates to the development of the profession since the 1850s. The history of nursing itself dates back to ancient history, when the sick were cared for in temples and places of worship. In the early Christian era, nursing in the United Kingdom was undertaken by certain women in the Christian Church, their services being extended to patients in their homes. These women had no real training by today's standards, but experience taught them valuable skills, especially in the use of herbs and folk drugs, and some gained fame as the physicians of their era. Remnants of the religious nature of nurses remains in Britain today, especially with the retention of the job title "Sister" for a senior female nurse.
Winifred Emily Hector FRCN was an English nurse and textbook author. She played a significant part in introducing modern curriculum and teaching methods to British nursing education.
Project 2000 was a higher education scheme in the United Kingdom for nursing qualifications, introduced in 1990 by the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC), later the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). The development was led by Margaret Dorothy Green.
Barbara Noel Fawkes was a British nurse and nursing educator. She served as Chief Education Officer, General Nursing Council for England and Wales from 1959 to 1974.
Charlotte Eliza Bentley MBE was a British nurse and nursing activist. She raised the status of nurses as part of the British nursing history. She had them established as students during training and established State Enrolled Nurses as not just "assistant nurses".
Elizabeth Elaine Wilkie OBE FRCN (23 August 1915 - 14 December 1998) was a Scottish nurse and the first Director of the Council for the Education and Training of Health Visitors in the UK. Wilkie was instrumental in the development of Health Visitors training in the UK. She received an OBE for her work.
The Briggs Report (1972) was the Report of the Committee on Nursing in the United Kingdom, which reviewed the role of nurses and midwives in hospitals and in community care. It made recommendations on education, training, and professional regulation.
Margaret Currie Neilson Lamb FRCN (1907–1992) was the first nurse to chair the General Nursing Council in Scotland.
The Salmon Report (1966) or the Salmon Report on Senior Nursing Staff Structure was the report of a committee established to bring standardisation in structure and pay for senior hospital nurses in England and Scotland. The report recommended changes to how nurses jobs were categorised in hospitals and management training for nurses.
The Judge Report (1985) or the Report of a Commission on Nursing Education was the report of a committee established by the Royal College of Nursing to consider a different approach for nursing education in the United Kingdom.
John Greene was an Irish-born chief nursing officer known for his work in the field of mental health nursing and introducing community psychiatric nursing.