Health Minister Ann Keen announced last week that from 2013 the minimum level achieved for pre-registration on nurses courses will be a degree rather than the current diploma level.

 The new requirement should equip nurses to make better decisions, giving patients a better experience and thereby reducing NHS complaints.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) who are the professional regulators of nursing will develop new standards that the degree courses must meet.

The NMC carried out a review of the existing pre-registration nursing education and came up with the recommendations.

The Health Minister said: "Nurses are the largest single profession within the health service, and are critical to the delivery of high-quality healthcare.

"By bringing in degree-level registrations we can ensure new nurses have the best possible start to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

"Degree-level education will provide new nurses with the decision-making skills they need to make high-level judgements in the transformed NHS."

Improved nursing skills should see a fall in the number of medical negligence claims made against the NHS each year.

Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said: "All nurses need to put quality care at the centre of what they do, and they also need extensive knowledge, analytical skills and experience to work in a range of settings."

Adding: "This is not about restricting entry to the nursing profession, in fact we must ensure that the door to nursing continues to be as wide as possible." 

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