COLIN WAY, Chair of the Children and Young People's Field of Practice Advisory Panel, has important news on the RCN Forum Transition project.

So what does 'transition' mean for school nurses?

In 2008 RCN Council decided that RCN forums should be streamlined to create 41 stronger, more fit-for-purpose forums. Each will have a revised governance structure and be supported with new online systems to help meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Each of the many existing forums and special interest groups who care for children and young people will be merging into five new RCN CYP "super" forums:

  • Staying Healthy
  • Continuing and Community Care
  • Acute Care
  • Specialist Care
  • Professional Issues

... with both state and independent school nurses automatically being allocated to the CYP: Staying Healthy Forum.

Meanwhile your "old" forum will soon move from being a finite group with a committee who meet face-to-face a couple of times a year to becoming an interactive online "community" in which all RCN members who work in school nursing can log on, 24/7, and raise issues pertinent to their daily practice.

So you will still be able to access news and information about your specialism through the online community, but in future all communications will be coming from your wider CYP area of practice.

Don't forget to update your details at www.rcn.org.uk/myrcn and give us your email address to ensure you continue to receive information and updates from the new CYP: Staying Healthy Forum.

What do forums do?

Forums are groups of RCN members working in a similar nursing specialty or with like interests. They:

  • provide an expert resource
  • influence current and future health and social policy in the UK and beyond
  • advise RCN Council
  • shape, drive and develop nursing practice
  • help members enhance and develop their practice knowledge and skills
  • generate nurse leaders in their field
  • provide networking opportunities.

Thousands of RCN members throughout the UK already work together in forums to improve nursing care in a range of settings and they remain an essential part of RCN membership.

By joining a forum you are kept up to date with the latest developments in your key field of interest, with access to online communities in different specialisms and interests. See more about these developments at: www.rcn.org.uk/forums - including the full list of new forums.