All-graduate nursing entry defended - graduate jobs

The move to make the nursing profession all-graduate entry has been defended by a nursing director.

The Government announced in November that graduate entry will be the way into nursing in future.

It was a decision that has since drawn much criticism, with some arguing that academic study has been placed above other important skills needed too succeed in the profession.

But Alison Robertson, who is due to take up a post as nursing director of St George's Healthcare Trust in London, said the decision is not about elitism.

In a speech at a conference run by Kingston University  and St George's, she said: "To my mind graduate entry by 2013 is the right step. Scotland and Wales have already done this and so have midwives; we should be there too."

Ms Robertson added: "It's not about elitism; it's about the complexity of care that we are delivering now and will be delivering in the future."