Message from the chair

Published: 31 October 2012

Dear Forum Member

We have come to the end of the first year of our newly formed Gastrointestinal Nursing Forum committee, as well as my first year as Chair.

I hope you have noticed some changes over the past 12 months. Your committee members have worked hard to move the Gastrointestinal Nursing Forum forward, to communicate with you and represent you where we can.

We ran the first nurses’ day at the Digestives Diseases Foundation conference in Liverpool. For those of you that went either to the nurses’ day, or to the main conference, I hope you agree that it was a real success. Andrea Spyropoulos, President of the RCN, came to open the day and stayed throughout, listening to delegates’ issues and concerns. Everyone who attended said it was a fantastic, nursing-focused day, and we would be delighted to run it again. We have asked the conference organisers if it could be cheaper next time, so that more nurses could attend.

The liver nurses are working hard completing the competences for their specialty that are due for publication soon. They should give real support to those of you managing patients needing liver treatment. Keep your eyes peeled on the website for more information to come.

The IBD nursing audit has been published, showing the fantastic contribution nurses make to patient care across the UK. We are very grateful to all that participated, and are working with them to plan the next step.

We have updated the forum webpages and continue to add to them regularly. Please browse - it’s worth having a look. If you have anything you want adding, just let us know.

On your behalf we have collaborated with others, representing your views. Collaborative work has included: