A professional development framework used in Wales could support continuous improvement in the quality of care and underpin the revalidation process for nurses, say Nicola Ryley and David Barton

In January 2016, all registered nurses and midwives will be required to revalidate their practice every three years. This will have implications for individual registrants and line managers. In May 2014 the chief nursing officer for Wales launched a new governance framework for post-registration nurse education in Wales. This article describes the framework, how it underpins a continuous cycle of improvement in care delivery, and how it could be used to support nurses and nurse managers to meet the requirements of the revalidation process.