The same trend is found in hospital settings, where “advanced
practice nurses” and “clinical nurse specialists” have extended their
scope of practice into areas previously the province of doctors
alone. A survey of 490 NHS Trusts conducted in 1996 found that
87% of them employed clinical nurse specialists (3191 nurses in
total) while 36% employed advanced practice nurses (316 nurses
in total).3 The most common areas of employment for clinical
nurse specialists were cancer, diabetes, health visiting, and mental
health. The most common areas of employment for advanced
practice nurses were accident and emergency, mental health,
ophthalmology and orthopaedics