Department of Health and Social Care
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NURSES AND MIDWIVES WILL TAKE CENTRE STAGE IN DELIVERING TOMORROW’S HEALTHCARE
Prime Minister’s Commission sets out its vision for the future.
A vision that will allow nurses and midwives to transform the quality of care was set out today by the Prime Minister’s Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery.
Its ultimate goal is that all nursing and midwifery staff fulfil their potential to help people who use NHS services, families and communities achieve the best possible health and well being.
It also sets out that in the future nurses and midwives will take centre stage in all aspects of health care and that nursing and midwifery practice will be rooted in compassion.
The initial vision has been agreed by the Commission following an extensive engagement exercise over the summer, which sought the views of professions and the public around the country on what they see as the future role for nurses and midwives.
Separate to the vision statement the Commission has identified ten hot topics through responses to the first engagement phase and their own deliberations, which they want further debate on. Included within the hot topics for discussion are the need to address the confusion over roles and title of nurses and midwives and the role of nurses and midwives in putting service users in charge of their own care.
Health Minister and Commission Chair Ann Keen said:
“In our vision nurses and midwives are ordinary people who do extraordinary things – there is so much untapped potential waiting to be unleashed. The Prime Minister has said he wants to see nurses and midwives in control and at the heart of the team leading on quality and safety.
“The majority of nurses and midwives already do a fantastic job working with people who use NHS service, families and communities to care for the sick, promote health and wellbeing, prevent illness and relieve suffering. Yet they could be even more effective. In our vision, they are ordinary people who do extraordinary things - all their untapped potential will be unleashed.
“We have had an overwhelming response to the first stage of our crucial work in shaping the future of nursing and midwifery and received over 2,500 individual and organisational responses reflecting the views of many thousands of people.
“The Commission has reflected on these responses and identified some hot topics that we want to hear more views on during the Autumn. As a nurse, I believe these issues go to the very heart of shaping the future of our profession and I look forward to hearing detailed suggestions on how we can tackle them which will help shape the detail of our report.”
The Commission is now seeking to encourage further views, discussion and debate on their initial vision and ten ‘hot topics’ through a second phase of engagement ahead of publication of their final report in the New Year.
The second engagement phase will last two months and will include meetings with nurses and midwives, stakeholder meetings, public events and seeking views online through the Commission’s website.
A final report will be produced by the Commission in early 2010 and presented to the Prime Minister and Health Secretary, Andy Burnham.
Notes to Editors:
1. For media enquires please contact the Department of Health Press Office on 0207 210 5221.
2. The Commission website at cnm.independent.gov.uk highlights the initial vision statement, and requests debate on the hot topics. The vision statement is:
The Commission’s current vision of the future of
nursing and midwifery in England
The
Commission’s goal is that all nursing and midwifery staff should
fulfil their potential to help service users, families and
communities achieve the best possible health and wellbeing. Nurses
and midwives already work as their partners to promote health and
tackle health inequalities, assist with healthy childbirth,
prevent illness, help people to manage their health problems,
restore health, and relieve suffering. Yet they could be even more
effective. In our vision, they are ordinary people who do
extraordinary things - all their untapped potential has been
unleashed.
Nurses and midwives will take centre stage in health leadership, delivering efficient and effective healthcare, policy-making, service design, service management, education and research. They will be at the heart of a universally accessible, service-user-driven system of integrated health and social care, with most services delivered in or near people’s homes. Nursing and midwifery practice, rooted in compassion, will draw on extensive knowledge to provide high quality physical and psychological care, using skills ranging from the everyday to the inspirational. Society and the health system will value nurses and midwives not only as clinicians, but also as managers, teachers, researchers, activists, thinkers and policy-makers.
Professionally and personally nurses and midwives will be valued members of their local communities. Articulate, informed and consulted on all health-related issues, they have the confidence to take the lead and take ownership. They will be a source of leadership, inspiration and support. Their community and clinical involvement will create the ‘nursing capital’ so highly valued by society, reflected in a vibrant public image that reflects their diversity and tells a new story of nursing and midwifery.
In summary: in the future,
- All nursing and midwifery staff will fulfil their potential to
help service users, families and communities achieve the best
possible health and wellbeing.
- Nursing and midwifery staff
are ordinary people empowered to do extraordinary things.
-
Nursing and midwifery practice is rooted in compassion.
- High
quality care involves using heads, hands and hearts.
- Nurses
and midwives take centre stage in all aspects of health
care.
- They provide most services close to where people live
and work.
- They are valued as clinicians, managers, teachers,
researchers, activists, thinkers and policy-makers.
- They are
a source of inspiration and support.
- Their vibrant public
image tells a new story of nursing and midwifery.
3. In order to get to the heart of each hot topic the Commission will be concentrating at debating responses to the specific question(s) which underpin each topic. These questions are listed below beneath their corresponding hot topic:
1. Putting service users in the lead of managing
their care – the role of nursing and midwifery
- How will the roles of nursing and midwifery
staff and their relationships with service users need to change
in the future to put the service users in the lead of managing
their own care?
2. Improving the health and well-being of nurses
and midwives
- How can we
improve the health and well-being of nurses and midwives and the
wider nursing and midwifery family?
3. Nurses and midwives leading services - What are the barriers to nurses and midwives ‘taking charge’ and leading services and what would remove or reduce the barriers?
4. Transforming workplace cultures and
relationships
- How does the
existing workplace culture help or hinder the delivery of high
quality care by nurses and midwives?
- Care is increasingly
being provided through multi-disciplinary and
multi-organisational teams. What should be the characteristics
of these teams if they are to deliver the highest quality
nursing and midwifery care?
5. Ensuring the transition to degree-level
registration for nursing
- How would you
like to see the Commission respond to the issues that have been
raised about the move to degree-level registration for
nursing?
- What lessons can we learn from the midwifery move
to graduate registration?
6. The need for clarity on the roles and functions
of nursing and maternity support workers
- What more should the professions be doing to ensure and
assure the competence and standards of nursing and maternity
support workers?
7. The need to address the current confusion relating to roles and titles among nurses and midwives to make it clearer for service users - How can current nursing and midwifery roles and titles be made more transparent to service users and colleagues?
8. Spreading and embedding innovation
- What would support/incentivize/encourage
nursing and midwifery staff to be more involved in spreading and
adapting best practice and innovation?
9. Taking responsibility and being held to account
for quality and safety in patient care
- How well supported do nurses and midwives feel to deliver
high quality safe and effective care?
- Do current
performance development and supervision systems for nursing and
midwifery need to change? If so how?
10. Getting nursing and midwifery staff to actively engage in achieving best value in changing economic, environmental and technological circumstances - How can nursing and midwifery staff achieve best value in a rapidly changing world?
4. During the summer a number of consensus areas emerged that will not require further debate including the need for compassionate care driven by patients the need for nursing and midwifery staff to be well prepared and competent to tackle changing health needs; and the need to attract the best possible recruits into the professions. The Commission will address these issues in their report.
Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk
