Letter from the RCN Midwifery and Women's Health Adviser
Published: 27 February 2013
Carmel Bagness welcomes you to the first Fertility Nursing Forum newsletter
The big news item to begin with has to be the change of focus of the Midwifery and Fertility Nursing Forum. After much consideration, the RCN has agreed that midwives and fertility nurses need their own space to focus on key clinical issues affecting each group of professionals. As of this January there are two separate forums, a development which will be implemented for a two-year trial period.
The Midwifery Forum will be advertising for members to join, and they will then be asked to consider applying for forum committee places in the spring of 2013. If you are a midwife interested in making a difference, please consider joining the Midwifery Forum.
How to join the Midwifery Forum: action needed
Go to the MyRCN area of the RCN website or call RCN Direct on 0345 772 6100.
How to remain in the Fertility Nursing Forum: action needed
If you wish to remain a member of the Fertility Nursing Forum, go to the MyRCN section of the RCN website and check that your forum selections include the Fertility Forum in order to ensure you keep up to date with the latest news and views. You can also call RCN Direct on 0345 772 6100.
Fertility Nursing Forum future plans
The Fertility Nursing Forum will continue to work on and engage in the subject matter of fertility nursing. The current forum committee will continue with a variety of projects and will also be looking for a new committee member in the coming year.
As the new Fertility Nursing Forum settles down to its 2012-2014 strategic plan, the committee’s former midwifery member Gill Barber leaves the committee to join the new Midwifery Forum.
We are sorry to say goodbye to Kate Evans, the other midwifery representative on the forum committee, who is a former chair. Kate has been an active member of the RCN Midwifery Society and I would like to take this opportunity to thank her and wish her well for the future. I also hope she will continue to engage with the wider forum work going forward.
It has been a busy time, with the committee actively participating in a number of key shared stakeholder meetings, including liaison with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the British Fertility Society (BFS), the Senior Infertility Nursing Group (SING) and other key stakeholders.
Good news
One of the news items reaching us as I write this is the announcement that the HFEA will not transfer its function to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The RCN has supported the campaign to contest the suggested abolition of HFEA and the transfer of its functions to the CQC. We believe that there is merit in retaining a specialist regulator as a single, trusted point of contact.
New training and education framework
Another key project for the forum committee has been work on the RCN Training and education framework for fertility nursing, which is currently being published. We are looking forward to launching this important framework at the RCN’s fertility nursing conference and exhibition, Facing the Future Challenges – Fertility Nursing, which is taking place on 9 March 2013.
Conference
Have you booked your place? If not, further information can be found on the conference webpage
We will also be facilitating three workshops this year in Scotland, London and York to introduce the framework and consider how it can be implemented, so watch this space for further details. Thank you to all who have worked on this important framework, which will help to transform the career pathways of nurses working in fertility across the UK.
The forum committee has continued to work to benefit the membership and its professional interests, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank committee members for their commitment and dedication to influencing and moving practice forward.
The next most important publication for those working in the speciality will be the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on fertility which are due to be published imminently on the NICE website. Once published, I am sure we will have comments on these important guidelines, so watch our news pages for further comment.
As always, if you have any feedback please get in touch, especially if there is an area of practice that you would like the forum to consider for a project or comment.
Best wishes