What nurses can achieve

Perhaps you took the opportunity earlier in the year to respond to the Nursing and Midwifery Council's (NMC) consultation on draft strategic themes to support them to be a better regulator. The general public were also consulted on the five themes, which were:

If you want to find out more, visit the NMC website (https://tinyurl.com/y2f3t3na).

Both the profession and the public agreed there was a need for nurses, midwives and nursing associates to have the time and opportunity to deliver good care, not just to police standards but help improve them promote a better appreciation of what they do, to act with kindness, and to consider new ways of delivering care.

I must confess that this rather resonated with what people have been saying to me at the recent Wound Expo in September and at the Wound Care Alliance UK (WCAUK) conference in Doncaster in October. I have heard your reports, stories and reflections about time and the lack of it for care, and how you feel that standards are sometimes imposed without due consideration to how you will manage the demands put on you. I also hear amazing stories about how you have made real achievements in wound care by focusing on getting it right first time (GIRFT). GIRFT is an NHS Improvement initiative that focuses on improving quality by reducing unwarranted variances (https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/).