@Andremasil Thanks for the link, and I agree with you that the new training has positives. I like the idea of learning more about all four fields of nursing. As a children's nurse I will come into contact with young people (and possibly their parents/carers) who are affected by mental health or learning disability, so it would be useful to have an understanding of this area too. I think mental health in particular will be very useful to learn more about especially with a reported rise in the number of young people experiencing mental health challenges.
I do have concerns about the new training though. 2019 will be the first group of students to follow the new standards and I expect, as with anything new, there might be teething problems. I'd hate for that to affect my grades or quality of learning. I can see the advantage of delaying the new programme by a year to iron out any issues that might be learnt from it. I'm also undecided whether lifting the cap on simulation hours is a good thing or not and are universities likely to make much change with this particularly in the early years of the new programme.