Comings and goings

Published: 08 December 2011

Sue Moody, who has been Chair of the Forum Steering Committee for three years stepped down from the post this September. Sue has worked tirelessly for the forum throughout this time and chaired one of the most successful fringe events at Congress in Liverpool this year. She will continue to be a keen member of the DN Forum Committee while she works as a Community Matron in Surrey. Thank you, Sue, for all your hard work and commitment during your time as Chair.

And welcome to Kay Durrant who has been elected Chair. Kay took up her position in November, but not without completing her term as Newsletter Editor by pulling together this issue.

"I am very excited at being the Chair of this forum,”"says Kay. "There is much work to be done on behalf of the district nursing community and I look forward to leading this with the RCN and my colleagues on the committee. It is time for district nursing to have a voice and we intend that in 2012 our voices will be strong and loud!”

 Rounding up the committee

 Continuing as committee members are:

We are pleased to introduce two new members who were elected to fill vacancies when Sue Stephen and Sue Sanderson stood down in September after many years of great service:

Candice Pellett lives in Spalding, Lincolnshire, and currently works as Case Manager, District Nursing for Lincolnshire Community Health Services. She trained at the University of Nottingham in 1992 and became a district nurse in 1999. She spent a period of time as a lecturer/practitioner at her alma mater from 2004 to 2007 and then moved to the Department of Health where she was Clinical Lead for Transforming Community Services (TCS).

Candice has had a highly varied career and experience in a wide and diverse number of fields related to community nursing. This includes in being a clinical adviser to a film production company, a member of the national Dignity in Interprofessional Health Education group and assessor for the Queen’s Nursing Institute national awards. She is no stranger to Buckingham Palace having been invited to one of the Queen’s Garden Party in 2009 and equally the House of Lords where she was a guest at the Lords Annual Parliamentary Reception called to discuss the NHSS White Paper in 2010.

On her election to the committee Candice says: “I believe the next four years will be very challenging in community services and I welcome the opportunity to be at the forefront of change through the work of the forum and its members.”

Caroline Dickson lives in Edinburgh where she is Programme Leader for the Community Health Nursing course at Queen Margaret University. She trained at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, qualifying in 1985. Since entering community nursing in 1989 she has held a variety of posts in primary care, having worked in general practice, as a practice nurse clinical audit facilitator and as a heart manual facilitator. Her work in education began in 2004.

Caroline has published widely and presented at numerous conferences. She is currently studying for her doctorate. She says: "I am concerned that just as we are seeing the increasing complexity of patients being cared for in the community (and the skill mixed teams caring for them), the number of district nurses with a specialist practitioner qualifications is diminishing. We need to make sure there are sufficient nurses with clinical expertise, leadership and management skills within district nursing teams."

 We are sure that both Candice and Caroline will serve the forum and its members well.