Leadership - RCN support

Publications

The following are selected publications from the RCN and are downloadable from the RCN website. Other titles can be accessed from the RCN website.

The lists on the RCN website are arranged in alphabetical order of title. The following list is arranged firstly by publication date order (most recent first), and then alphabetically by title.

Some of the resources on this page are in PDF format - see how to access PDF files.

The nursing team: common goals, different roles (2012) (PDF 80KB) - historically, the nursing team has consisted of nurses, midwives, students and support workers, all delivering aspect of nursing care, but with different levels of responsibility and decision making. This briefing looks at how the team has developed and become more complex over recent years as new roles such as assistant practitioners (APs) have been created. The briefing aims to assist health care assistants (HCAs), APs, registered nurses, colleagues, patients and the public to understand how the team functions and works together.

A short guide to world class commissioning (2009) (PDF 56KB)
World class commissioning encompasses all primary care trust and clinical commissioning. It is vital that nurses understand this process as it is the vehicle being used to drive through major reform in health care as outlined by Lord Darzi in High Quality Care for All in 2008. This paper gives a brief overview of world class commissioning.

Breaking down barriers, driving up standards. The role of the ward sister and charge nurse (2009) (PDF 884.5KB)
This report recognises that the importance of the ward sister and charge nurse role applies universally, and where the role is supervisory, the patient care benefits and the findings highlight that work urgently needs to done to strengthen and support the role for the delivery of high-quality nursing.

Local healthcare commissioning: grassroots involvement? (2009) (PDF 661KB)
The RCN, in partnership with National Voices, launched a report on patient involvement in local health care commissioning. The report reveals that many patients feel local health care commissioning (LHC), the process intended to ensure health and care services effectively meet the needs of the local population by engaging with patient representatives, is not working effectively.

Advanced Nurse Practitioners. An RCN guide to the advanced nurse practitioner role, competencies and programme accreditation (2008) (PDF 1.49MB)
This revised publication is divided into three main sections and includes a definition of the ANP role, the RCN's revised domains and competencies for ANPs in the UK, and the standards which collaborating higher education institutions must meet for their ANP educational programmes to receive RCN accreditation.

Guidance for new nurse managers in hospices and specialist palliative care units (2008) (PDF 349.7KB)
This publication is for nurses who are embarking on a management role in a hospice and palliative care unit environment. It includes detailed information on governance arrangements, policies and procedures, minimum data sets, and useful sections on handling challenging situations and internet resources.

Nurse entrepreneurs: turning initiative into independence (2007) (PDF 678.9KB)
This document is designed for nurses, especially those in clinical practice, educational or managerial roles - who are thinking about setting up on their own.

NHS Black and Minority Ethnic Leadership Forum Report (2007) (PDF 146.7KB)
This is a report from the national NHS Black and Minority Ethnic Leadership Forum which was launched with the support of the NHS Confederation and RCN in 2007. The forum drives the development of black and Minority ethnic (BME) leadership and ensures a stronger voice for BME leaders and managers in the NHS. This report sets out the main achievements of the forum over the past four years.

Developing and sustaining effective teams. Getting started - an introduction and review (2007) (PDF 667KB)
The guides in this pack contain some of the practical learning gained from the project and are aimed at anyone who works in a team and who wishes to improve the way the team operates. The nine guides address a specific aspect of team working; including setting objectives, team roles, diversity, effective team meetings, conflict and running a team day.

Developing integrated health and social care services for long-term conditions (2006) (PDF 275.2KB)
Long term conditions (LTC) present a challenge for the NHS, the numbers of people living with LTC is growing due to increasing obesity, sendentary lifestyles and an ageing population. Community matrons are central to the Government strategy on the management of LTC, but there has been some confusion as to how other nurses fit in the management of LTC and the future role of the nurse specialist. This document details proceedings from a symposium held at the RCN to examine the interface between specialist nurses and community matrons. It outlines how all nurses need to work together collaboratively for the benefit of patients with LTC. The event was jointly sponsored by the Parkinson's Disease Society and Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Clinical Teams programme: Developing effective teams. Delivering effective services. Executive summary (2006) (PDF 512KB)
This summary is an account of the Clinical Teams Programme (CTP). The goal of this programme was to "increase the effectiveness and functioning of health care teams, improve client care and service delivery, and contribute to organisations achieving relevant strategic objectives in relation to their wider modernisation agenda".

Working with care: improving working relationships in health care (2006) (PDF 227.3KB)
'Working with care' is a suite of tools for use in work teams at any level of an organisation. If these tools were applied throughout an organisation, they could assist in changing the culture to be more caring of staff and less accepting of bullying behaviour.

The Clinical Teams Project. Evaluation report (2006) (PDF 1.1MB)
The NHS Leadership Centre commissioned the Royal College of Nursing Institute (RCNI) to develop, deliver and evaluate a team development programme, the Clinical Teams Programme, for 100 health and social care teams across England, between January 2004 and September 2005. This report highlights the findings of the project.

Implementing the Matron's Charter: a multidisciplinary programme evaluation report (2005) (PDF 328.3KB)
The RCN Clinical Leadership Team was commissioned by the Department of Health to design and deliver a pilot programme for multi-disciplinary teams to support the implementation of the Matron's Charter into practice. This report provides a progress report and a combined evaluation of the pilot programme delivered between April 2005- September 2005.

Multiple case study evaluation of the RCN Clinical Leadership Programme (2005) (PDF 2.1MB)
The RCN Clinical Leadership Programme (CLP) was funded by the NHS Leadership Centre, as part of its National Nursing Leadership Project. The purpose of the multiple-case study evaluation was to establish how key stakeholders perceive the effectiveness and acceptability of the CLP.

Commissioning health care services for children and young people: increasing nurses’ influence (2004) (PDF 188KB)
This guidance provides assistance in influencing the commissioning process for nurses who manage and lead children’s and young people’s services. The professional duty of a children's nurse is to monitor the quality of services provided to children and their families and influence processes for service enhancements.

Evaluation of the modern matron role in a sample of NHS trusts: A report to the Department of Health (2004) (PDF 1.5MB)
This report was commissioned by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme. The research was done in two stages: a national survey of Directors of Nursing in all NHS Trusts in England, followed by fieldwork in ten selected Trusts. The study took place between Feb 2003 and March 2004. The authors discuss the impact of 'modern matrons' on patient care, and make a number of detailed recommendations to employers about giving matrons the appropriate authority and resources to improve patients' experience of care.