We are mandated by the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011, as amended to set and publish standards and requirements for specialist nursing and midwifery education programmes.  

In July this year, our Education, Policy and Standards Department began work to revise the standards and requirements for post-registration specialist education programmes. As part of our work in developing this document, we held a one-day workshop with a group of subject experts on 30 September.

The group consisted of representatives from clinical specialist practice; the Chief Nursing Office at the Department of Health; the HSE; Centres of Nursing and Midwifery Education; the Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director; the Technological Higher Education Association; the Irish Universities Association; Quality and Qualifications Ireland and public representative bodies. 

The workshop was a productive collaboration with our colleagues and we thank them for their input. The draft document is being prepared for the public consultation.