One of the major changes envisaged in the NHS's Five Year Forward View and further developed in the Long Term Plan is the changing roles of nurses, midwives and allied health professionals, essentially taking on roles that previously were the domain of medical staff. This has been happening for many years but numbers have increased significantly over recent times and with it a burgeoning desire to see standards set and the role clearly defined.

There is unfortunately still no clear definition of what ‘advanced practice’ is and therefore the education and roles that the practitioner might be required to perform or undertake is also open to question. There is however clear support from all parties involved (across the UK) that the educational provision should be at Masters level; and ideally a full MSc. The Department of Health (DoH) and HEE have published curriculum guidelines pertaining to the content of ACP courses in an attempt to introduce some standardisation. The full MSc enhances the practitioner’s ability to appraise research, think critically, and prepares them to develop further beyond simply the role of an expert clinician.