Building a strategy for the future of nursing in Scotland
I would like to wish a happy International Nurses Day to nurses all over the world and, in particular, to those in Scotland.
I took up the post of Chief Nursing Officer for Scotland on 1 January this year from my previous role as Executive Nurse Director in NHS Lothian. As for many nursing leaders, the past few years have been incredibly challenging. I truly believe that working in teams is the only way we have got through the pandemic and it will be the only way we will get through the challenges the next few years bring.
By challenges I mean our ability to remobilise, regroup and recover from the impact of the pandemic, learning the lessons and building on innovative practice established in response and with the courage and professionalism of our workforce in striving to deliver safe, person-centred care at all times.
It's both a privilege and humbling to find myself in the CNO role for Scotland. I have many ambitions for nursing and a real sense of the direction and decisions needed to ensure we have a good supply of registered nurses to meet the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Our workforce strategy provides an opportunity to review how we set student nurse (and midwife) numbers and the number of intakes to universities each year, as well as other routes of entry into nursing and, at post-registration level, the opportunity to look at shortened and conversion programmes. The strategy also recognises the importance of good mental health and wellbeing in the delivery of person-centred, safe care.
A range of services and support has been developed and will continue to be provided, a positive legacy we can all access. I will aim to work with the health and social care system across Scotland to ensure we can develop the workforce for the future. In particular, I want to accelerate the work around enhancing and building the Agenda for Change bands 2 to 4. We are in the foothills of developing more assistant practitioners at band 4 and will continue to explore this with the health and social care system. At the same time, we are revisiting programmes on transforming roles and advanced practice and the commitment made around the safe and effective staffing legislation.
We are furthering international recruitment, and I am keen to learn from the experiences in other countries to ensure we do this ethically and safely. An acceleration of this agenda is something we will take forward. We want to welcome nurses from across the world, providing them with great learning and development in our health and social care system. However, as we know, nurses don't work in isolation, they work in teams and we need to continue to develop the multidisciplinary team ethos.
Every day, the work we do in Scotland is providing the safest and best quality of care for our patients. I very much look forward to working with the other CNOs across the UK in developing our collective and collaborative approach. Learning and sharing enables me to provide the best leadership to the profession across Scotland. I want to be a visible leader and spend time visiting a range of services. Putting myself in the places where you and others work will keep me grounded and means that I can use real-life experiences when developing professional nursing policy for Scotland.
Nursing in Wales: Looking ahead Nyrsio yng Nghymru: Edrych ymlaen
Happy International Nurses Day! Diwrnod rhyngwladol y nyrs hapus! This International Nurses Day marks my first as Chief Nursing Officer for Wales and I feel very proud, privileged and humbled to hold this position.
It is so important that we all take a moment on 12 May to reflect on the ongoing challenges faced by our professions working across care sectors and settings, and those in roles supporting the education, development and wider needs for the profession. I want to say thank you for all you have done and continue to do. I respect your passion, extraordinary contribution and resilience in meeting the needs of our Welsh population.
I was delighted to have launched my CNO priorities in April, setting out our collective vision for the professions in Wales, to develop an agile workforce fit for the future. This is an exciting time for nurses and midwives, a time when we will work together to enact the changes we want to see.
As CNO, it is vital for me to support strong and effective leadership at all levels and in all organisations to deliver consistently high standards of care. We have to spot our talented workforce early on, and to develop successive leaders to champion change. Our leadership of the profession must work to create environments where professional curiosity is welcomed and staff are actively encouraged to speak out if they have concerns. This is essential to ensuring that staff are cared for and that the focus is placed on looking after their psychological safety.
Our workforce is our biggest asset, and we have to look after each other and be kind and professional, respecting everyone for the contribution they make. We have a lot of work to do, particularly at a time when our workforce has been stretched to its limits.
It will require a change in behaviour, and for me International Nurses Day gives us a moment to reset and refresh the culture in the profession. We will have to be creative, using leadership and influence to open up opportunities for flexible working, new roles, rotational posts that attract practitioners to experience and develop skills across the whole system.
We will need to ensure that new registrants know that there are many opportunities for them across the care sectors, from ward and community to research, academia and the health and care inspectorates, all of which can be exciting and fulfilling areas to work.
My vision is that we make the professions attractive, so that nursing and midwifery in Wales become the careers of choice for those looking to work in health care.
The theme for International Nurses Day is particularly poignant this year as we continue to live with the ongoing impact of the pandemic and we as a profession are ‘nursing the world to health’.
I hope you will be joining us as CNOs of the UK and Ireland, as well as the RCN Foundation, as we launch the ‘Here for Life’ campaign, which will develop a fuller understanding of the breadth, expertise and diversity of nursing and midwifery roles and the impact that the professions have on the population as a whole.
International Nurses Day
The day is commemorated around the world on 12 May, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birthday, to celebrate the contribution of all nurses to health care and society. The theme for 2022 is ‘Nurses: A Voice to Lead—invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health’. The Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service to mark the day is held at Westminster Abbey in London every year. The date for the 57th annual Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service is 11 May