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10 marks of the 100 in Part B, which runs for 150 minutes.
Platform 7 is what happens between services. Discharge, referral, transition from children’s services to adult ones, and the carer at home who is holding it together. The questions ask who else needs to be involved and what has to happen before somebody leaves.
What this section asks about
Planning and facilitating a safe discharge or transfer
Multidisciplinary and interagency working, and who does what
Referral: to whom, when, and with what information
Medicines reconciliation and discharge medicines information
Carers, including their right to an assessment of their own needs
Equitable access for people who are vulnerable or have a disability
Where the marks go
10 marks of the 100 in Part B, which runs for 150 minutes. The NMC splits this section across the levels of Bloom's taxonomy:
Remember and understand: 4
Apply and analyse: 3
Evaluate and create: 3
Where candidates lose marks
Discharging on clinical readiness alone. The question is usually whether the arrangements at home are in place.
Naming a profession without a reason. Referrals in these questions carry information and a specific question.
Forgetting the carer is a person with their own needs, not a resource.
Sample questions
From our bank, with the explanation as a student sees it. These particular questions are kept out of the mock papers, so reading them here does not use anything up.
Sample 1 of 2
A 24-year-old patient admitted to a general medical ward with acute diabetic ketoacidosis discloses active suicidal ideation during a nursing review and requires urgent psychiatric evaluation within the physical hospital setting. Which specialist service should the staff nurse contact?
Select one answer.
APerinatal Mental Health Team
BMemory Assessment Service
CCrisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team
DPsychiatric Liaison TeamAnswer
Why
The need for urgent psychiatric evaluation within a physical acute hospital setting determines referral to the Psychiatric Liaison Team. The Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team would be appropriate if the person were in the community requiring intensive home visits to avoid admission.
NMC Standards of Proficiency Platform 7
Sample 2 of 2
A 54-year-old woman attending an outpatient oncology clinic has acquired profound hearing loss, communicates fluently in spoken English, and does not use sign language. She requests a communication professional who will silently repeat spoken words with exaggerated lip patterns and facial expressions to facilitate the discussion. Which specialist communication support professional should the nurse book?
Select one answer.
AProfessional lipspeakerAnswer
BSpeech-to-text reporter
CBritish Sign Language interpreter
DDeafblind communicator-guide
Why
The request for an accredited professional to silently repeat spoken words with exaggerated lip patterns and facial expressions uniquely indicates a professional lipspeaker. A British Sign Language interpreter would be required if the patient communicated primarily through sign language rather than spoken English.
NMC Standards of Proficiency Platform 7
The proficiency statements behind this section
Questions in this section are written against the NMC's Future Nurse standards. These are the 13 statements it draws from. You are not expected to memorise them, and they are worth reading once so the language on the paper is familiar. The ones marked are patient safety proficiencies, which every paper has to reach a minimum of.
7.1Understand and apply the principles of partnership, collaboration and interagency working across all relevant sectors
7.2Understand health legislation and current health and social care policies, and the mechanisms involved in influencing policy development and change, differentiating where appropriate between the devolved legislatures of the United Kingdom
7.3Understand the principles of health economics and their relevance to resource allocation in health and social care organisations and other agencies
7.4Identify the implications of current health policy and future policy changes for nursing and other professions and understand the impact of policy changes on the delivery and coordination of care
7.5Understand and recognise the need to respond to the challenges of providing safe, effective and person-centred nursing care for people who have co-morbidities and complex care needs
7.6Demonstrate an understanding of the complexities of providing mental, cognitive, behavioural and physical care services across a wide range of integrated care settings
7.7Understand how to monitor and evaluate the quality of people’s experience of complex care
7.8Understand the principles and processes involved in supporting people and families with a range of care needs to maintain optimal independence and avoid unnecessary interventions and disruptions to their lives
7.9Facilitate equitable access to healthcare for people who are vulnerable or have a disability, demonstrate the ability to advocate on their behalf when required, and make necessary reasonable adjustments to the assessment, planning and delivery of their caresafety
7.10Understand the principles and processes involved in planning and facilitating the safe discharge and transition of people between caseloads, settings and services
7.11Demonstrate the ability to identify and manage risks and take proactive measures to improve the quality of care and services when neededsafety
7.12Demonstrate an understanding of the processes involved in developing a basic business case for additional care funding by applying knowledge of finance, resources and safe staffing levels
7.13Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of exercising political awareness throughout their career, to maximise the influence and effect of registered nursing on quality of care, patient safety and cost effectiveness
Questions people ask
When should discharge planning start?
At or before admission for a planned procedure, and within the first day of an emergency admission. Questions often turn on the fact that it starts far earlier than people expect.
What is a carer entitled to?
Under the Care Act 2014 an adult carer can have an assessment of their own needs, whatever the needs of the person they care for.
Practise this section
Practice is filtered by section, so you can work on this one on its own. Every account gets 10 new questions a day without a card.