ABSTRACT
The NMC (2018) in their recently produced standards of nurse proficiency extended the range of skills and tasks that qualifying nurses ought to be able to perform. Two of these were previously the domain of medial or other staff: venepuncture and cannulation. These skills are not new to nurses. Many practitioners and nurses working in specialist areas have been undertaking them for many years. However it is now something expected of all nurses and so must be viewed as part of nursing care and practiced with dexterity as well as compassion and care.
