Every year in December I wonder where the year has gone—it may be an age thing, but this year time has definitely got the better of me!
The year has been jam-packed, with the Association of Stoma Care Nurses' (ASCN) UK conference in Wales and the European Council of Enterostomal Therapy (ECET) conference in Rome, masterclasses and study days.
Planning for the ASCN Congress in conjunction with the World Council of Enterostomal Therapists (WCET) 2020 in Glasgow in October is the next big venture, with the aim of supporting specialist nurses, not only in stoma care but in continence and wound care too.
So, where are we politically? At the time of writing, there is no final Brexit deal and a general election is looming. A potential change of Government may hold unknown threats and opportunities for nursing and the NHS has been thrown into the spotlighted arena of political discussion during the run-up to the election. The need for increased funding for the NHS will continue, but spending it wisely requires strategy and foresight.
There have been many figures issued regarding nursing numbers and how each party will aim to increase these or support retention to reduce the losses from the profession over the next 5 years. Bursaries were removed and tuition fees introduced in 2016 with a negative effect and resultant loss of morale. It is an uphill struggle to try to reverse and overcome this as well as attain realistic levels of nurses to support an increasingly ageing population.
Dame Donna Kinnair, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, has called for all nurses to lobby their MPs and utilise opportunities to champion the profession and highlight the good work being undertaken in all sectors of healthcare. A decade of austerity has left the NHS flawed and crumbling, while staff continue to try their very best to hold it up under mounting demand.
Specialist nurses are in a privileged position and the value they add to patients' care is well documented. November saw the launch of the Excellence in Stoma Care project at the House of Lords, which I was privileged to attend as Chair of ASCN UK, a specialist nurse project supported by Coloplast Ltd (Virgin Elliston et al, 2019a).
The overwhelming message delivered was that commissioners need to be supportive of this approach to meet the requirements of patients with a long-term condition.
This cannot be done in isolation and needs a seamless approach from not only commissioners but also GPs and social services if we are to deliver the highest standard of care (and one that we would expect for our own families). Hence the need for wise spending; specialist nurses are value for money, delivering quality care at a reduced cost and managing issues to prevent complications and hospital readmissions (Virgin Elliston et al, 2019b).
Most nurses are not political animals; however, as advocates for patients they are second to none. What is needed is an approach to advocacy that allows for voices to be heard at the political level. Although I may be accused of seeing the future through rose-coloured spectacles, it seems to me to be incumbent on all nurses to grasp these issues and not be complacent about the power their voices hold. Collaborative support from industry in the form of the British Health Trades Association (BHTA) and the Patients, Industry and Professionals Forum (PIPs) as well as patient support groups (the Ileostomy Association, Colostomy UK and Urostomy Association, for example) provide nurses with an oversight of the healthcare agenda that influences decisions being made in terms of services and products.
It is vital that nurses put themselves forward to work on projects such as Excellence in Stoma Care and strive to lead the way in leading our specialism into a better-resourced and well-supported, politically knowledgeable cohort of health professionals.