Many of you reading this piece will know that the final project in our five-year programme to review all of our nursing standards is concerned with post-registration qualifications in specialist community and public health nursing.

There are currently five specialist practice qualifications in community nursing, and one of these is the specialist practice qualification (SPQ) for general practice nursing. In renewing the standards, we have updated the standards of proficiency, which describe what people need to know or be able to do to gain the qualification, and the standards of education and training, which describe the characteristics of the educational programmes that universities and their partners must meet to deliver the courses leading to the qualifications.