Letter from the Chair

Published: 20 February 2013

Hello members

Francis report

Our first newsletter of 2013 is written in the context of emerging debates following publication of what has been described as the most significant inquiry into the NHS since its inception. Following initial responses to the report from the Francis Inquiry on the failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and the role of management, regulators and supervisory bodies in those failings, the RCN is now working through the report’s 290 recommendations and RCN officers have assured forums that our views will be considered.

This is vital for our forum as not only is older people’s care a major focus in the report but also there are specific issues to which we will respond, such as recommendation 200 that “consideration should be given to the creation of the status of Registered Older Person’s Nurse”. We will continue to work with the RCN’s Nursing Department to ensure that the perspectives of older people’s nurses remain strong in ongoing RCN representations.

Read the RCN's initial response.

RCN adviser

The RCN currently has no Older People’s Adviser. At the end of her two-year contract Nicky Hayes returned to her NHS role as Consultant Nurse Older People at King’s College Hospital London. I want to place on record our sincere thanks to Nicky for her achievements at the RCN, not only in bringing to fruition the major Safe staffing for older people project (see the project web pages and resources), but also for her ongoing support for our forum. Nicky remains an influential forum member and continues to actively support our work. Pending the appointment of a new Older People’s Adviser, Rachel Thompson, Dementia Project Lead (see the RCN dementia project webpage), is helping our work and I’m doing my best to offer specialist older people’s nursing advice to RCN officers.

2013 forum strategy work

Our major project for this year is to promote the skill and value of nursing in care homes and to support staff working in these settings through our conferences and Congress events but also through the production of new resources. Following discussions with Tim Curry, Assistant Head of Nursing Department, we are submitting a proposal this month to the Forums Governance Group to revise the RCN publication What a difference a nurse makes, which helps nurses in long-term care to articulate the outcomes of their work for older people.

A second strand in our strategy work was to revise the RCN’s guidance on restraint. We were unsuccessful in our proposal to do this but we have been reassured that we will be key contributors to RCN work resulting from the main hall debate on restraint at Congress 2013 (Item 10 on the agenda).

The RCN Pain and Palliative Care, Rheumatology, Perioperative and Older People’s forums are also submitting a major bid on pain, the aims for which include producing guidance and educational resources on pain assessment.

In addition to our key projects, we continue to contribute to major RCN projects, such as Too much at risk (highlighting the loss of specialist expertise through service reconfiguration – see its Congress webpage), NICE consultations on dementia and falls (thanks to Tracy Paine and Khim Horton) and to represent the RCN on major multiagency projects, such as the Age UK Malnutrition project.

Older people's nursing conference and exhibition

Our forum conference on 19 March 2013 in Birmingham promises to be the best ever. The programme celebrates the essentially multi-professional, multi-agency nature of our work and focuses on the distinct contribution made by nursing to new innovations in care (read our newsletter item about the conference).

Congress 2013

We plan a stronger-than-ever older people’s voice this year, with three of our items being accepted onto the main hall agenda and two lunchtime events. Iain McGregor, our Vice Chair and Congress lead, reports.

Networking and communication

Forum networks remain strong and active. Excitingly, our forum is hoping to create a new local interest group in North East England, led by Amanda Clarke, Professor of Nursing at Northumbria University and supported by local RCN officers. I visited Northern Ireland in October to reconnect with OPeNN (Older People’s Nursing network) members, to hear their views and update them on our forum’s national strategy progress. I’m also maintaining valued links with AIGNA (The All Ireland Gerontological Nurses Association) and am pleased to report on the progress of their exciting and innovative research into the expertise of nurses working in older people’s residential care – a cause close to my heart (read the newsletter item). Iain McGregor continues our forum’s links with Scotland and offers an update in this newsletter.

We are continuing our communication with members through newsletters and our online community, kept up-to-date by Iain, who is also our web editor.

The next few months will offer two opportunities for you to meet our committee members – our conference on 19 March and Congress in April. We genuinely look forward to seeing you and hearing your views. Until then, I send you all my best wishes.