Staff focus updates - 25 October 2012
New policy, guidance and initiatives from across the UK which focus on staff issues and professional development. For more information about this theme see Quality and Safety e-Bulletin: staff focus.
Some of the resources linked to are in PDF format - see how to access PDF files.
Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS): Midwives central in providing high quality maternity services. Speaking at an all-Ireland Midwifery Conference - ‘Every pregnant woman needs a midwife and some need a doctor too’, Health Minister Edwin Poots reinforced his vision for the future of maternity services across Northern Ireland. "Both Transforming Your Care and the Department’s Maternity Care Strategy signal a significant change in the way maternity services will be delivered into the future".
DH: Consultation on national performers list for GPs, dentists and ophthalmologists. This consultation proposes that in future, there is one national list of general practice doctors, dentists and ophthalmologists approved to provide NHS primary care services. The consultation closes on 14 December 2012.
DH: Second health visitor implementation progress report published. The second quarterly progress report, setting out progress on key areas of the Health Visitor Implementation programme, has been published. It confirms that the Department remains on track to increase the number of health visitors by an extra 4,200 by April 2015.
General Medical Council (GMC): Regular checks for all UK doctors. Every doctor practising in the UK will be subject to regular checks to help improve the quality of patient care. The new system will be based on an annual appraisal and the information doctors will collect about their practice, including feedback from patients, doctors, nurses and other colleagues.
Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP): HQIP launches revalidation training tool for doctors. This free online learning tool has been developed by PRIMIS and will help GPs through the new revalidation processes.
NHS Commissioning Board: Webinar sessions: Developing the culture of compassionate care. The NHS Commissioning Board is running a series of interactive online webinars to discuss the new vision and strategy for Nurses, Midwives and Care-Givers, and its six key areas of focus, the 6Cs.
NHS Commissioning Board: NHS Leadership Academy announces finalists for the NHS Leadership Recognition Awards 2012. The peer-nominated national awards aim to recognise and celebrate outstanding leadership across the system and to share good leadership practice. The short-list has 31 finalists across nine leadership categories reflecting a cross-section of many health professions.
NHS Employers: Support workforce – tools and resources. This page brings together the latest reports, publications and toolkits on support workforce issues and has been updated.
NHS Employers: New healthcare science resources. The healthcare science pages have been revised to include two new sections on accredited science education programmes and a new shared learning example.
RCN: NHS staff survey on pay and conditions. A report for the joint staff-side NHS trade unions (PDF 1.6 MB). This report was produced by Income Data Services (IDS) for NHS staff-side unions, including the Royal College of Nursing. Results have been drawn from a survey sent out to members across all of the NHS unions, supplemented by detailed telephone interviews with a cross-section of NHS staff.
RCN: Evidence to the NHS pay review body 2013-14 (PDF 344.7 KB). This submission to the Pay Review Body accompanies the evidence presented by the staff side trade unions (Staff side evidence to the NHS pay review body 2013-14) and calls for an above inflation pay rise for nursing staff for 2013-14. It draws on key findings in the RCN Labour market review Overstretched. Under-resourced. The UK nursing labour market review 2012.
RCN: NHS staff struggling with workloads and stress, report warns.
RCN: Staff side evidence to the NHS pay review body 2013-14 (PDF 503.5 KB). This submission on behalf of all NHS trade unions calls on the Pay Review Body to recommend an above inflation pay rise for 2013-14. It highlights the current experience of staff working in the NHS, who are dealing with job losses, pay freezes, budget cuts and an increase in unpaid overtime to fill gaps in service provision. It demonstrates how this combination of factors is having a clear detrimental impact on morale and motivation of the NHS workforce. It draws on the survey of over 30,000 members undertaken by Incomes Data Services on behalf of the trade unions.
RCN: Overstretched. Under-resourced. The UK nursing labour market review 2012 (PDF 1.4 MB). This report highlights the impact of financial pressures on the current and future NHS nursing workforce. It is submitted to the NHS Pay Body Review as part of the RCN’s evidence on pay and conditions in the NHS (004 336). It also provides an overview of different systems of workforce planning in place across the four UK countries and highlights the very real risk of nursing under-supply due to developments in workforce planning.
RCN: Members protest against cuts and local pay. Royal College of Nursing members marched through London on Saturday 20 October to oppose cuts in the NHS and highlight concerns about national pay and conditions. A Future that works, a march organised by the Trades Union Congress, saw members walk from Victoria Embankment, past parliament, to a rally in Hyde Park.
RCN: New award rewards compassion. For the first time, nursing staff who show exceptional compassion can be nominated by their colleagues or members of the public for a very special award. Launched this year, the Florence Nightingale Foundation Chairman’s Award for Compassionate Nursing Care is one of several new awards that form part of the prestigious Nursing Standard Nurse Awards 2013.
RCN: RCN Legal staff win praise. The outstanding achievements of the RCN’s legal services team have been recognised by the judges of a prestigious award. The team was “highly commended” in the excellence in client care category.
RCN: RCN AGM vote results. The results from the RCN’s AGM held in London on 17 October 2012.
RCN: Exceptional nurses and midwives recognised at Mary Seacole Awards. Six nurses, midwives and health visitors have been recognised for their contribution to black and ethnic minority (BME) communities at the Mary Seacole Leadership and Development Awards ceremony. The prestigious awards provide winners with the opportunity to undertake a year-long project to benefit the health needs of people from BME communities. There are two award programmes: the Mary Seacole Leadership Awards, which provide funding of up to £12,500 and the Mary Seacole Development Awards, which provide funding of up to £6,250.
Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE): SCIE Research briefing 43: Effective supervision in social work and social care. This research briefing provides an overview of the evidence concerning the value of supervision in supporting the practice of social care and social work. It is relevant to both children’s and adult social care services and includes a consideration of supervision in integrated, multi-professional teams. While the focus is on social work and social care, some of the research reviewed includes participants from other professions such as nursing and psychology.