A depleted labour market after the war means that the Government has begun to look overseas to help increase nursing numbers and the UK sees a large influx of nurses from the Caribbean.

The Nurses Act 1949 enacts many recommendations from the 1946 Wood Committee, which was set up by the Ministry of Health to examine the role of nursing in the new NHS.

The educational role of the [then] nurse regulator – the General Nursing Council (GNC) – is strengthened and a new syllabus for general training is completed and approved in 1952.

Source: Nuffield Trust