Willis and the generic turn in nursing

Over the past months a series of articles in the journal have drawn attention to concerns about aspects of the quality of nursing care in the UK (Paley, 2013; Darbyshire, 2013; Rolfe and Gardner, 2014; Roberts and Ion, 2014). Jackson et al.’s (2014) recent review of the whistleblowing literature indicates that these concerns are more widespread. This view is echoed by Ion et al. (2015) who noted that student nurses from across the world encountered poor practice while on placement. In the UK this has led to a good deal of reflection with some arguing that the problem is a function of chronic under funding of health services and a workforce which is understaffed (Randall and Mckeown, 2014). For others, the issue is tied to the way in which nurses are educated. This is the view taken by Lord Willis whose Shape of Caring report was published in March (Willis, 2015).