A wide variety of factors impact on the scope of nursing practice, including government policies, organisational structures, the media, education, future healthcare directions and service users themselves. It is an NMC requirement that nurses understand these factors in order to deliver quality care. This book provides a clear and practical introduction to these contexts for the new nursing student. The new edition (formerly ‘Nursing in Contemporary Healthcare Practice’) has been revised to cover the organisational structures that students will find themselves working in, the various bodies involved in healthcare policy and the big issues in current and future healthcare delivery.