Political principles in action: a critical analysis of Education and Training: Working Paper 10 and its implications for nurse education.

Education and Training: Working Paper Ten (WP10) (Department of Health 1989a) was published in October 1989. It was an integral part of Working for Patients (Department of Health 1989b) and as such was alleged to embrace the same fundamental principles. WP10 may result in the most significant change to nurse education in the UK since the 1949 Nurses Act, with variations in its funding, structure and organisation. Surprisingly, there has been relatively little discussion about this important development within the nursing press. The aim, therefore, of this paper is to evaluate WP10 within the context of the ideology which has underpinned social policy in the last 14 years. Firstly, Conservative Party policy will be explored, the WP10 itself will then be examined in order to assess how far such principles have been applied to nurse education through its implementation. It is intended that by this process of analysis further understanding will be gained about this policy and its potential consequences for the future of nursing.