The RCN’s forum rationalisation project – an update
The RCN has recently decided to rationalise the many forums that operate under the name of the RCN. (Detailed explanation as to why, driving factors and aims can be found on the RCN website.)
Like many people, my original thoughts were of money savings. However, I attended the Chairs’ meetings to discuss and to be informed.
A plan overturned
The original paper that was released merged TB with respiratory nursing; this is something to which the forum members unanimously objected. Historically, TB has been linked to respiratory nursing due to its medical association with the British Thoracic Society (BTS); the reality is that there is no need to be a respiratory nurse to work with patients who have TB, and indeed there have been many incidents of respiratory nurses being given a TB caseload with no training into what is a separate specialty with very different goalposts.
With this in mind, the RCN has created a new area of practice as well as employed a nurse adviser who specialises in public health – this is where we feel we belong and after some debate this is to where we have been successfully been merged.
In future
The new forums will operate very much as before. Different entities within the forum will bid for project monies each year, so things such as the RCN TB Nurses Forum Conference will continue. Added to this it is highly likely that we will start to look at particular projects, teaming up with colleagues in the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) UK coalition as well as the BTS to look at how we can move forward TB nursing. Over the next year or so we hope to be able to produce standards on ‘case management’.
All in all, it looks very positive. It will be sad to say goodbye to the TB Nurses Forum as a separate entity and even sadder to say goodbye to our RCN Adviser Lynn Young, who has done an excellent job over the last many years keeping me on track and giving me the benefit of her tremendous experience.
The proposed changes are to come into effect towards the end of 2009, so watch this space for further details or feel free to visit the RCN website.
Malcolm Cocksedge, Forum Chair