Meet the committee - in their own words!
We are pleased to announce forum steering committee members for the District Nurses Forum.
Kay Durrant, Chair of the District Nursing Forum
I am Clinical Services Manager for Community Health Stockport. I currently manage services including district nursing, respite palliative care, liaison and community rehabilitation. I have worked in Stockport for 6 years managing a variety of services and prior to this worked as a manager for Nth Derbyshire Community Trust managing health visiting and district nurses. I worked for 10 years as a sr lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University. I qualified as an SRN in 1980 in London and went on to specialise in community nursing including as a PWT. I am also a Queen’s Nurse. I am committed to ensuring that the future of district nursing is protected and features on both local and national agendas. From Oct 2011 I took up the Chair of the DN Forum and look forward to an exciting year of development and progress for this much valued and needed professional group.
Helen Ballinger
I registered as a nurse in 1988 and have worked in the community setting since 1992 in a variety of roles including being a community staff nurse, district nursing sister and professional lead for case management. I qualified as a district nurse in 1998 and obtained a teaching certificate in 2004. This enabled me to work as a senior lecturer for a year teaching the district nursing degree course and non medical prescribing. I represented nursing on the Professional Executive Committee for 4 years until 2011.
I have been a learning representative for the Royal College of Nursing for 5 years before joining the district nursing forum. I became a Queen’s nurse in 2009 and was part of the ‘Right Nurse, Right Skills’ campaign in producing ‘Nursing People at Home’ (QNI, 2011).
My current role is NMC Teacher for Community Nursing for Gloucestershire Care Services, where part of my time I am an associate lecturer for the Open University to teach our trainee assistant practitioners in house. I enjoy training and education and am passionate about sharing knowledge and skills so that we can all provide good nursing care for people. As a member of this forum I am committed to helping develop the future practice of district nursing.
Rosemary Wheeler
Since 1980, I have worked in the community nursing service in Stockport in district nursing, professional development, palliative care and intermediate care services.
I'm an active RCN member and Treasurer of the Cheshire East branch. I believe that the District Nursing forum can support District Nurses and other community nurses, in practice and that it can help to influence the political agenda.
As an individual, I'm passionate about the development of roles and services within district nursing. The proposals in 'Transforming Community Services Programme' (2009) will bring both opportunities and challenges during the next 4 years. It's important that community nursing influences decision making within Primary Care organisations, at a time when many employees feel unsettled and concerned about the future delivery of healthcare.
From June Ill be helping to develop the District Nursing forum website, so please contact me if you would like to add anything to the website, or have any comments.
Yvonne Thomas
Yvonne trained at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff and then undertook a district nurse training course at University of Wales, Swansea. She's fluent in the Welsh language and has undertaken media training for presenting issues for the media in Welsh. She has also done a political leadership course and has a Masters in Healthcare Law and Ethics.
Yvonne is a RCN Health and Safety Steward for Hywel Dda NHS Health Board, Ceredigion division and a Welsh Board member. She is a passionate champion of the rights of patients and disabled persons and she's keen to promote discussion on Community Nursing issues in the RCN.
Candice Pellett
I have worked in the community setting in South Lincolnshire since qualifying as a nurse in 1995. My previous career was in banking! I am currently working as a Case Manager District Nurse, Queen’s Nurse with Lincolnshire Community Health Services. I have had a varied career including being seconded to the University of Nottingham as a Lecturer/Practitioner and I have a recently finished a secondment to the Department of Health as Clinical Lead Nurse on the Transforming Community Services Programme.
I enjoy writing and have had several clinical articles published – I have also written a chapter on dignity in a healthcare book and I am a member of the National Dignity Interprofessional Group. I love all the varied aspects of community nursing but my passion is nursing people who require palliative and end of life care.
Caroline Dickson
Having trained as a district nurse in 1988/9, I pursued a clinical career in community nursing, undertaking a variety of DN roles, then moving into practice nursing and practice development. Then 8 years ago, I became a lecturer at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. For the past 4 years I have been Programme Leader for the Community Health Nursing Programme - Specialist Practitioner Qualification: Community Nursing in the Home/District Nursing. I am dedicated to district nursing and have carried out research into Leadership in Community Nursing. I am currently undertaking my professional doctorate and plan to focus my research on district nursing practice. Within Scotland I am active within the RCN, Queens Nursing Institute, Scotland. Over the past few years, there has been a lot of change in community nursing, driven by the Scottish Government and facilitated by NHS Education for Scotland. As a key stakeholder, I have been involved in these changes, influencing particularly from an educational perspective. As a member of the RCN District Nursing Forum Steering Group I am committed to listening to the voice of district nurses and act as an advocate at every opportunity, to influence the future direction of district nursing practice.
The RCN Membership Co-ordinator for this forum is Sandra Hall, sandra.hall@rcn.org.uk.