Letter from the Chair: Alan Sheward (Spring 2009)

The IFNA committee continues to support the work of the Forum Governance Group and to change our ways of working to support the changes that are necessary. You can read about the latest transitions at: www.rcn.org.uk/forums

ITIC Budapest provided an excellent opportunity to see how the work of this conference has a direct impact on the flight industry. We took a great deal away from the short conference. There was an extended debate on the Working Time Directive (WTD) of nurses who work in the flight industry and this in turn led on to a larger debate on the role of competence - two issues the committee is keen to discuss at a future key stakeholder event.

We hope to see as many IFNA nurses as possible at this year's RCN Congress (see www.rcn.org.uk/congress2009). Our aim is to continue to have a strong voice in the RCN and we will be promoting this with our poster feature and a fringe event, based around our Operational Plan. We are currently working with a few other small specialists to arrange the speaker for the fringe event - this normally well-attended and very interesting event at Congress.

IFNA study day

This was a huge success in November (see Belt up! article), generating a wealth of debate regarding the minimum standards and competence. Former IFNA Chair Gerry Bolger led the discussion which moved on to plans for a larger key stakeholder event that the committee will attempt to arrange for this summer.

Specialist practitioner

There is a great deal of discussion surrounding this role and the need to acknowledge this part of the nurse's professional responsibility. A working party has now been set up which Mark Payne attended on behalf of the IFNA.

Caroline Carter and Rita Mody have made excellent progress with the IFNA "online community" on the RCN website (www.rcn.org.uk/inflight). It looks truly great and provides a dynamic resource that's infinitely expandable. The site will never be too full so we'll be looking for new articles as time goes on. Send any articles, reviews or comments to Rita at: ritamody@hotmail.com

Again Rita has produced some outstanding work in this newsletter. It shows that there is so much to be said about a small intensive topic. We are grateful for her ongoing "persuasive tactics" to get articles in on time and produce what our members find a truly valuable resource.

I hope to have more news on all the topics mentioned here in the next few months and, as always, do feel free to contact me on any aspect of IFNA at: alsheward@gmail.com