Platform 2, Promoting health and preventing ill health, is 10 of 100 Part B questions (8.7% of the 115 marks). It covers public health and inequalities, screening, the UK immunisation schedule, smoking cessation, alcohol advice, physical activity, behaviour change, sexual health, health protection and self-management of long-term conditions. The questions ask what a nurse should say or offer, using UK programmes and national advice.
Scope and weight
Ten questions is a modest block, and it is one of the easiest to under-revise because the content feels familiar. The risk is that the UK detail differs from what you know. Screening ages, vaccine schedules and alcohol units are national facts, and a question will assume you know them. The test specification also puts weight on application: expect a person in front of you and a choice about what to advise or offer.
What is tested
- Public health principles. Health inequalities, social determinants of health, and terms such as incidence, prevalence, screening and risk.
- Screening. UK adult programmes for breast, cervical, bowel, abdominal aortic aneurysm and diabetic eye disease.
- Immunisation. The routine schedule and adult vaccines: flu, shingles, pneumococcal and RSV.
- Behaviour change. Making Every Contact Count, motivational interviewing, health coaching, very brief advice on smoking and nicotine replacement.
- Lifestyle advice. Alcohol low-risk guidance, healthy eating, physical activity, weight management and falls prevention.
- Sexual health and protection. STI prevention, contraception advice, notifiable diseases and UKHSA health protection duties.
- Mental health promotion. Promoting wellbeing and suicide prevention.
- Self-management. Supporting people with diabetes, COPD and heart failure, plus health literacy and cardiovascular risk reduction.
- Infection prevention education. Hand hygiene advice for the public and safeguarding as public protection.
Local points to anchor your answers
| Topic | UK point to learn | Status of our check |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol | No more than 14 units a week, spread over 3 or more days | Confirm at source (NHS) |
| Physical activity | At least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week | Confirm at source (NHS) |
| Breast screening | Every 3 years from 50 to 71 | Confirm at source |
| Cervical screening | Every 3 years aged 25 to 49 and every 5 years aged 50 to 64 (England) | Confirm at source |
| Bowel screening | Home test from age 50 in England | Confirm at source |
| AAA screening | One-off ultrasound for men in their 65th year | Confirm at source |
| Shingles | Adults turning 65 and ages 70 to 79 | Checked on UKHSA schedule |
| Pneumococcal | At 65 | Checked on UKHSA schedule |
| RSV | At 75 and care home residents; pregnancy from 28 weeks | Checked on UKHSA schedule |
| Flu | Annual from 65; any stage of pregnancy | Checked on UKHSA schedule |
The immunisation row values come from the UKHSA complete routine schedule from 1 September 2026. Screening programmes differ between the four UK nations, and the exam normally follows England. Where a question names a nation, follow that nation.
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Three typical traps
- Telling instead of exploring. In behaviour-change questions, the best option usually asks what the person thinks, offers information they want and respects their choice. A lecture on risks is usually a distractor.
- Using another country's schedule. Vaccine timing, screening ages and units of alcohol differ between countries. Learn the UK ones and discard your own.
- Confusing screening with diagnosis. Screening looks for disease in people without symptoms. A person with symptoms needs assessment and referral, not a place in the screening queue.
How the questions are framed
Platform 2 stems place you in a clinic, ward, community or screening setting with one person and one health behaviour or risk. You may be asked what to advise a woman who has missed a cervical screening invitation, how to start a conversation with a man who smokes and has just been admitted with chest pain, or which vaccine a particular adult is due. The better answers rely on UK programmes and on respectful, evidence-based conversation, not on persuasion or fear.
What the exam asks about each group
- Screening and immunisation. Match the person to the programme or vaccine by age and circumstances. Check eligibility before advising, and remember that programmes differ between nations.
- Behaviour change. Choose the approach that explores motivation. Making Every Contact Count means using routine encounters for brief, opportunistic advice, not a long lecture.
- Substances and lifestyle. Offer very brief advice on smoking, alcohol advice with the 14-unit guideline, and physical activity advice of at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week.
- Health protection. Recognise that some diseases are notifiable and that UKHSA leads health protection. The nurse's part is to recognise, report through the proper route and give practical advice.
- Self-management. Support people with diabetes, COPD or heart failure to understand their condition, spot worsening and know when to seek help.
- Epidemiology terms. Distinguish incidence (new cases over a period) from prevalence (all cases at a point in time), and screening from diagnostic testing.
Look at the person described. If they have already said they are not ready to change, the best option respects that and keeps the door open instead of pressing for commitment.
How to revise it
- Make a one-page UK schedule of screening ages and vaccines, then test yourself weekly.
- Learn very brief advice for smoking: ask, advise, act. Know that nicotine replacement and referral to stop-smoking services are the usual actions.
- Practise motivational interviewing phrases: open questions, reflective listening, affirmations and summaries.
- Define the epidemiology terms in a line each, and do two or three quick items on incidence and prevalence.
- Link to long-term conditions. Revise self-management together with Platform 3.
Return to the high-yield list for the immunisation schedule and revision order, and to Annexe A for communication techniques.
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Frequently asked questions
How many Platform 2 questions are there?
Ten of 100 Part B questions, which is 8.7% of the 115 marks, according to the 2021 test specification.
Which vaccines are most likely to be asked about?
Learn the adult vaccines on the UKHSA schedule: flu, shingles for adults turning 65 and ages 70 to 79, pneumococcal at 65 and RSV at 75 and for care home residents, plus the pregnancy vaccines.
What is the UK low-risk alcohol advice?
No more than 14 units a week, spread over 3 or more days. We wrote this from NHS advice and have not opened the primary page in our check, so confirm it before relying on it.