The title ‘nurse consultant’ was first explored by Stephen Wright at a time when nursing in the United Kingdom required a greater professional structure (Wright, 1992). It was not until 2005 that the first research about such a role was undertaken (Woodward et al., 2005). More recently, an important RCN publication describes research undertaken to look at becoming and being a nurse consultant (Manley and Titchen, 2012). This 24-month collaborative research project used action learning as a basis for data gathering; such a methodology helped the nurse consultants in the study to critically examine their role and to engage in developing such a role during the study.

Nurse consultant roles are diverse and complex. Posts are the highest level within the healthcare system for front-line clinicians wishing to remain in practice where the role is concerned with bridging the gap between theory and practice.