I have a relative who’s spent her entire adult life in the world of nursing – from quite an early age she knew she was going to be a nurse. Every opportunity was spent getting information on what courses would be best and schools of nursing were checked out in readiness. As it happened, when she came to leave mainstream school, it had become very much the norm to take a nursing degree at university instead of starting at nursing school and learning as you worked on wards. After a decade or so, it has become obvious that a lot of the hands on nursing skills are not being presented early in this process – many a very intelligent student who can gain any number of A grades on paper sadly turn out to be absolutely hopeless on a ward of very sick people. This is only found out rather a long time down the route. However, once the decision to take that nursing degree has been made, some universities are much more popular and successful than others with their delivery and outcomes.