Strikers in favour of nursing departments (8)
I believe the answer is:
forwards
'strikers' is the definition.
(I know this)
'in favour of nursing departments' is the wordplay.
'in favour of' becomes 'for' (being for a particular cause).
'nursing departments' becomes 'wards' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'for'+'wards'='FORWARDS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for forwards that I've seen before include "Ahead in time; in the normal order" , "In the normal sequence" , "pack" , "Attacking players" , "Facing towards the front" .)