Executive Directors of Nursing
The Royal College of Nursing has issued a policy statement on the role of Executive Directors of Nursing in primary care trusts.
Read: RCN policy position. Executive Directors of Nursing (Word 112KB).
The RCN believes that all trusts, whether primary care trusts or Foundation Trusts, should have an Executive Director of Nursing with a nationally agreed set of competencies to ensure they can fully carry out their governance role in a strategic and effective manner. The position should be full time, with full attendence and voting rights on the trust board. The position holder should also be currently registered to practice, on the NMC register.
The RCN believes that is not acceptable that a single Executive Director of Nursing should represent the interests of a number of different trusts. The specific responsibilities, requirements and demands of the role mean that it is appropriate that each trust designates the position as a separate full time executive post. The RCN position is that there should be a Nurse Executive Director on each primary care trust board, regardless of whether it is a commissioning or provider board.
A minority of trusts currently have shared governance structures with a single Executive Director of Nursing covering both commissioning and provider primary care trust boards. Executive Directors of Nursing whose responsibilities cover more than one trust may face conflicts of interest, where the same nurse is advising both a commissioning board and a provider board. This could occur, for example, where individual commissioning trusts are seeking competitive bids from provider trusts over delivery of services. The RCN believes that shared governance arrangements will lead to confusion about the function of the Executive Director of Nursing. The RCN opposes shared governance arrangements.
For more information about the RCN's position, please contact: northern.region@rcn.org.uk.