© 2 01 3 M A H ea lth ca re L td M entorship programmes are one of the biggest continuing professional development costs for NHS placement providers. The number of mentors undertaking approved mentorship programmes run into the tens of thousands across the UK each year. Add to this the cost of releasing staff to attend the course and then attend annual face-to-face updates, maintenance of a live register of mentors, the undertaking of triennial reviews, enabling 1 hour per week protected time for sign-off mentors and the overall time taken by mentors in supporting learners in practice. The investment in mentorship is significant. Any business investing that much time and money into what are significant numbers of mentors would expect a substantial return on their investment, not least nurses who are committed to mentorship and providing high-quality learning for the future workforce. Unfortunately there are significant flaws in the system that militates against this. First, it is an expectation by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) that all nurses will aspire to become mentors, and most employers make possession of a mentorship course a prerequisite for promotion. There is evidence (Watson, 2004) that the latter is a major driver for nurses and both personal experience and discussions with colleagues from other higher education institutions (HEIs) support this view. While there is little doubt that undertaking a mentorship programme may convert some participants into seeing mentorship as something that is valuable in its own right, for others it is simply a means to an end. Second, there is an assumption that all nurses have the potential to be a mentor. While some skills are core to nursing such as establishing effective relationships, other skills are not necessarily innate to nurses and while they can be taught it does not follow that this means that they will be effective in all the required areas. The skills of facilitating learning in a way that enables a student to learn effectively in practice requires the Karen Elcock