I am thrilled to be contributing to this edition of the BJN Nutrition Supplement in association with the National Nurses Nutrition Group (NNNG).
The NNNG committee has undergone some changes recently, saying fond farewells and thank yous to Claire Campbell and Jo Wakeling as their terms end and welcoming new members Ben Booth, Sarah Brownlie and Charlotte Rubio. We all look forward to greeting you in person at the NNNG conference on 13-14 June in the beautiful city of York (see the website at https://nnng.org.uk for more details).
Angela Cole and I are very excited to be embarking on our first session of the Restore, Reflect and Regain Programme (a programme using clinical supervision models to care for nutrition nurses caring for patients), with all six places filled by NNNG members. We look forward to updating you on the programme later in the year.
Reflecting on recent months, pressure points are being highlighted in so many sectors, not least healthcare, with ambulance staff, nurses and junior doctors striking. The challenges of engagement and negotiation experienced by professional bodies and government officials appears to be filtering through society, touching the everyday lives of most of us throughout the country. In the NHS we face the re-scheduling of appointments and procedures or taking the personal decision to strike.
The current situation in the NHS is not sustainable long term. This crisis has been building, with organisations such as The King's Fund reporting on it even before the COVID-19 pandemic (Robertson et al, 2017). Together with the spiralling cost of living, everyday life has been testing for nurses, with a growing number using food banks (Stacey, 2023).
Despite all the uncertainty and everyday challenges we are moving forward and providing the best care we can. As a profession we are extremely skilled at this, but sometimes the emotional burden of not being able to deliver care to the standards we want to comes at a moral cost. We are accustomed to recognising distress in our patients and now see it more frequently in our colleagues. With record numbers of nurses leaving the profession (Holmes, 2022), how do we sustain ourselves in adversity when our resilience is tested? NHS England has produced a framework for staff health and wellbeing (NHS England, 2022). Many organisations have already started implementing the framework with better rest facilities, access to mental health services and signposting to financial support services. The more we access these services the better our organisations will understand what we need.
On the ‘shop floor’ it can be hard to find the space to support each other when we are already reaching our own limit, as the only nutrition nurse in the hospital and a professional nurse advocate, it is something I challenge myself to do every day. Sometimes I only have the capacity to acknowledge that there is a lot to do with suboptimal resources; opening a dialogue to give my colleague a moment to reflect and be heard is important. At times, this can be an emotionally charged moment where the burden of care is recognised. Nothing changes in terms of care needs or workload but allowing someone an outlet to be heard can have a positive effect on their wellbeing and your relationship with them.
To help us have these conversations, NHS England is hosting training programmes on ‘How to have safe and effective wellbeing conversations’ (NHS England, 2023). As the national situation continues to unfold, we have to prioritise our wellbeing and that of our colleagues if we are to endure. Look after yourself and each other.