Key messages to RCN members in Northern Ireland: valuing and protecting specialist nursing

The RCN is fully committed to ensuring the role of specialist nurses is valued and protected. This commitment is emphasised in the RCN document published last year, Specialist nurses - changing lives, saving money (PDF 574KB) [see how to access PDF files].  Furthermore, the RCN has identified the importance of specialist nurses in enhancing the care of patients with long-term conditions as one of the six key priorities in Nursing counts, the RCN manifesto for the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly Elections.

RCN Northern Ireland Deputy Director Garrett Martin is representing the RCN in a scoping exercise being conducted by the Public Health Agency on the role of specialist nurses. The RCN believes this is an opportunity to think about the way practitioners work and how the service should be organised and enhanced.

The RCN is encouraging specialist nurse members to engage in the Public Health Agency’s scoping exercise as we believe it can help to provide useful information to demonstrate the unique value of specialist nursing roles. The RCN will keep members informed of developments with this work and is encouraging specialist nurses to share and publicise the impact of their roles on patient care through the innovations section of the Frontline First website at frontlinefirst.rcn.org.uk.

The initial work being carried out by the Public Health Agency and the five HSC Trusts has involved exploring the potential for a high level job plan. In the first instance, this is being informed by the data gathered from scoping a range of hospital-based specialist nurses.

The RCN believes that job planning can help ensure practitioners are in a better position to maintain their clinical expertise to deliver high quality patient care.

If a sessional job plan is agreed, the RCN will not accept any arrangement that does not protect sessions for supporting professional activities such as training, education and clinical audit.