On reflection, I feel that this has been one of the fastest moving years I have ever known. The whole COVID-19 situation and the subsequent national activity needed to deal with this global pandemic has been like a tornado entering our lives, causing chaos and harm and stirring up dust, which is only now gradually beginning to settle. This once-in-a-lifetime event has succeeded in reminding us that we are fragile and society needs to pause and take a breath before reassessing what our values and goals really are.
The ‘Wash hands. Cover face. Make space’ mantra continues to remind us of the personal responsibility we must all take if we are to beat this. I suspect this will stay with us and become the new ‘norm’.
The impact on our activities has resulted in a huge technical learning curve as we meet up using Zoom, Go To, Microsoft Teams and other platforms to enable us to continue to strive to provide care, push forward with our objectives and find new and innovative ways of working. I am sitting in my office with two computers open and an iPhone as a matter of course in my daily work life.
The Association of Stoma Care Nurses UK (ASCN UK) held a virtual AGM instead of a live event, which proved challenging when technology let me down and threw me out halfway through. There's nothing like a technical glitch to strengthen your character! It has also led to virtual networking with other organisations, as well as our own, enabling us to spread the word and raise the profile of nursing. Never has this been more important as we see a national crisis with nurse vacancies on the rise and staff experiencing untold levels of stress after the initial wave of COVID-19.
Various strategies are being employed to deal with the situation, including nursing apprenticeship and nursing associate courses. The nursing associate programmes, introduced in the Shape of Caring review (Willis, 2015), established a desire to value the care assistant role, as well as ensuring a high-quality learning environment for pre-registration nurses. In 2018, 5000 trainee nursing associates were enrolled on to approved programmes (Health Education England, 2020). We are now beginning to see the fruits of the venture as qualified nurse associates find their feet on the nursing shop floor.
The number of nursing associates in England is helping to boost the workforce and are a welcome reminder of the past, as they undertake roles similar to that of the original state enrolled nurse many of us will remember. However, this is a new breed of nurse, honed from our own staff pool, experienced and motivated to deliver a high level of care and allowing registered nurses to focus on more complex clinical needs and leadership. They are there to support, not substitute registered nurses. They are also regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and, as such, have undertaken approved training and will be an enormous asset to any organisation. The role also provides a progression route into nursing thereby future proofing our profession for the years to come (NMC, 2020).
So, what does our future hold? There are no festivities to bring cheer to the end of the year and I suspect many of us will be glad to say goodbye to 2020. However, with a vaccine to protect against COVID-19 on the horizon our immediate future is looking that tiny bit rosier. Great strides have been made to produce a reliable vaccine within a short space of time and this represents what can be achieved worldwide with collaboration and the determination to look after our global interests. Many comparisons have been made with episodes in our nation's history that have affected our safety and stability, including the flu pandemic of 1918 and two world wars. All of these crises caused global hardship and personal sacrifice, and time will tell what the full effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will be. Remembrance day this year seemed even more poignant as we took stock of the COVID-19 death toll so far.
Christmas will be difficult this year. Let us hope for a brighter 2021 and an easing of lockdown so that life can return to normality, albeit one with new social rules and heightened care for each other and ourselves.