Press releases

Government responds to frontline care report

A response to a series of recommendations made by the PM Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery was published today by Health Minister Anne Milton.

Frontline Care: The report of the Prime Minister’s Commission on the future of Nursing and Midwifery in England was commissioned by the previous administration and published on 2 March 2010. The 20 recommendations made by the Commission covered issues such as how nurses and midwives could improve safety, high quality care and more freedom to manage, commission and run their own services.

Speaking at the Royal College of Nursing conference, Anne Milton said:

“Nurses and midwives give patients the care, compassion and the benefits of the experience they have – planning and delivering care in a wide range of settings in which they work. As a former nurse, I was pleased to see that the Commission’s report raised the profile of nursing and midwifery but we have to go further.

“Our plans to modernise the NHS aims to deliver high quality patient care with NHS frontline staff at the forefront. Nurses and midwives must be given the opportunity to shape and improve care in their area.

“The Government has launched an exercise to pause, listen, reflect on and improve our NHS Modernisation plans. This is a real opportunity for nurses and midwives to help us build a dynamic future for nursing and midwifery and make sure that the NHS is safe for future generations.”

The Government’s response to Frontline Care includes the following recommendations:

• more autonomy for nurses and midwives;
  
• a new contractual right for staff to raise their concerns direct to the Care Quality Commission;
  
• to hold NHS organisations to account for the development of skills for nurses and midwives;
  
• to develop leadership fellowships for nurses and midwives to ensure that leadership talent in nursing and midwifery is spotted and nurtured; and
  
• to ensure that there are nationally funded clinical academic training schemes to help nurses and midwives progress into stimulating research careers.

The Government has already committed to increasing the number of health visitors as well as creating the roles of director of nursing in the Department of Health with a greater public health focus and a chief nursing officer on the NHS Commissioning Board.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The full response to the 20 recommendations in Frontline Care is available at the link below.

Frontline Care: The report of the former Prime Minister’s Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery in England was published on 2 March 2010 and is available at the link below.

For media enquiries only, please contact the Department of Health news desk on 020 7210 5221. Members of the public should call 020 7210 4850.

• Download Government's response to the recommendations in front line care (PDF, 111K)
• The former Prime Minister's Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery in England, published on 2 March 2010 (opens new window)