Staff focus updates - 29 November 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.

Help the Hospices: Towards excellence in hospice care. Widening access through nurse leadership. This report highlights how hospice nurses are rising to this challenge and helping to ensure palliative care is available to more people – whoever they are and whatever their illness. The report is based on an innovative project called Widening Access through Nurse Leadership, which saw hospices across the UK reaching out to underrepresented groups. Help the Hospices is now calling for more innovation and collaboration between providers and community groups, so that hospices across the UK can reach out to all those who are affected by terminal illness in their communities.

Institute of Health Visiting: This new organisation, dedicated to health visitors, will seek to “promote excellence in health visiting practice to benefit all children, families and communities”. It aims to improve quality and consistency in health visiting practice by: acting as a Centre of Excellence for improving capacity and capability in health visiting and setting professional standards for continuing professional development.

International Council of Nurses (ICN): 25 November International day for the elimination of violence against women. “Research demonstrates that amongst health personnel, nursing staff are most at risk of workplace violence. Traditionally, many cultures have covertly accepted physical violence, sexual harassment or verbal abuse against women although a violation of their human rights. Also, nurses often passively accept abuse and violence as “part of the job” – an attitude sometimes shared by the public and the judiciary”. The ICN has produced guidelines on coping with violence in the workplace and has a position statement on abuse and violence against nursing personnel.

National Nurse Research Unit (NNRU), King’s College: Staff wellbeing impacts patient experience. New research carried out by the National Nursing Research Unit at King’s College London, based on a three year study, strongly suggests that levels of satisfaction and wellbeing among NHS staff has a direct impact on patients’ experiences of healthcare. The study aimed to determine which particular staff attitudes and behaviours impacted on patient experiences.
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research Programme: Patients experience of care and the influence of staff motivation, affect and well-being.

National Nursing Research Unit, King’s College London: Policy Plus – Issue 36: What are the benefits and challenges of ‘bedside’ nursing handovers? (PDF 565KB). In acute hospital settings nursing handover (also known as ‘change of shift’ or ‘nursing report’) has become the traditional and dominant form of communication between nurses caring for patients on one shift to the next. A substantial body of nursing research appraising nurse handover has evolved and the necessity of such handover seems undisputed for enabling nurses to exchange information. The literature identifies four main types of nurse handover: bedside, verbal, taped and nonverbal. However, the impact of the various handover methods on nursing care and patient outcomes remains unclear. In the UK and internationally, some hospitals are moving towards handovers at the patient’s bedside to support patient-centred care. However, there are no national guidelines or standards in England and some have raised concerns about whether bedside handover complicates, rather than streamlines, nursing processes and puts patient’s confidentiality at risk. This briefing examines different approaches to implementation, evidence of the benefits, and challenges associated with bedside handover in acute hospital settings.
Latest NNRU Newsletter, November 2012 Issue 6 (PDF 1.3MB). 

NHS Confederation: Leadership in matrix.  Exemplary leadership in the NHS is required more than ever in the face of the £20 billion productivity requirement."It is clear that there is a desire from leaders across the system to work closely together to build a shared leadership approach, using and developing a variety of leadership skills. This paper written by Ciaran Devane, the Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, is the first in a series which will explore in detail the needs of future healthcare leaders in the new system". 

NHS Employers: Health visitor recruitment toolkit. This toolkit contains information, briefings, tips and guidance to help in the effective recruitment of the right candidates into student or qualified health visitor roles.

NHS Employers: Workforce planning tools for healthcare science workforce. These healthcare science workforce planning tools were commissioned by the Department of Health and are designed to help employers effectively plan their healthcare science workforce. They have been developed for three areas of the healthcare science workforce; pathology, physiological sciences and physical science and engineering. 

NHS Employers: UK guide to job planning for specialty doctors and associate specialists. “The guide recognises that SAS doctors and their employers have a joint responsibility to work closely together to provide the best possible care.” 

NHS Leadership Academy: Developing outstanding leadership: the choices ahead. The NHS Leadership Academy's five year strategy is currently in development and views are being taken on the priorities and choices which need to be made for the future. The feedback will inform the final five year strategy, to be agreed by the Academy’s Programme Board, and then used to drive the future investment plans.

Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC): Review of midwives rules and standards. The NMC is reviewing the current Midwives Rules and Standards, to make sure they provide the best possible framework of care to safeguard women, their babies and families. The NMC will be providing further information to all midwives, including the proposed coming into force date for the new Rules, with the annual mail out of the intention to practise forms in December 2012.

Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI): 62 new Queen's Nurses join five Fellows at Awards Ceremony. The QNI’s Autumn Awards Ceremony took place at the Commonwealth Club in London on Monday 12 November. At the event, sixty-two new Queen’s Nurses received their badges and certificates, bringing the total number of QNs to over 300.

RCN: Ophthalmic nursing: an integrated career and competence framework (PDF 1.8MB). This competence framework has been revised and updated by ophthalmic nurses who are keen to share their knowledge and expertise with other colleagues within the specialty. It should provide the busy ophthalmic nurse with a structured framework against which they can map their own competences, plus help integrate them into a professional portfolio to show growth and development (both personally and professionally).This competence framework will work across a variety of ophthalmic care settings. Novartis UK Limited provided an educational grant to support this publication, but had no influence over the content. Kindly sponsored by SD Healthcare Ltd.

RCN: Competences: Palliative care for children and young people (PDF 731.6KB). Across the UK, there are a small number of children and young people who require palliative care, beginning at the time of diagnosis of a life-limiting or life-threatening condition. Because of the diversity of conditions and individual needs, specialist care provision is required in the home, hospital and hospice. Therefore specific competences are required for the nursing and support staff who will work closely with families and other care providers to ensure the best possible quality of life for the child/young person and support for their family. This framework supports the delivery of high quality, evidence-based care by nurses and health care support workers involved in the care of children and young people requiring palliative care.

RCN: Delegating record keeping and countersigning records. Guidance for nursing staff (PDF 585KB). As members of the wider health care team, HCAs and APs take personal accountability for good record keeping. This new short guidance from the RCN aims to clarify the issues of delegating record keeping and countersigning records for nursing staff and employers.

RCN: Frontline first: protecting services, improving care (PDF 792KB). This report from the RCN's Frontline First campaign reviews the state of the NHS workforce as the coalition government’s term reaches its halfway point. It finds that nursing is suffering from cuts while other professions are increasing in numbers. It argues that these figures reveal a looming crisis in nursing, as the demand for nursing care increases. It cites the formation of Health Education England as an opportunity to take a long-term approach to workforce planning and secure the future supply of nursing staff.

RCN: Substance misuse nurse wins RCN in Wales Nurse of the Year. Louise Poley, a consultant nurse for substance misuse, has won the inaugural RCN in Wales Nurse of the Year Award. Louise, mental health and learning disabilities award category winner, has undertaken significant work with the homeless and led a multi-agency project to offer services to this population within their own environment. She ensures they receive professional, evidenced-based and timely care within the health system. The judging panel described Louise as a “champion” and said she goes over and above her role to help “the forgotten population”.

RCN: RCN wins legal case to ensure nursing staff are treated fairly by police. The RCN’s legal team has successfully fought to ensure nursing staff who have been wrongly accused of criminal offences are not at risk of being turned down for future employment. Every member of the nursing profession must have an Enhanced Criminal Records Certificate (ECRC). It can be hugely concerning for nursing staff to think of a situation in which allegations made against them, which were either minor errors in nursing practice or wholly untrue, are disclosed by the police to future employers.

RCN: Compensation rule changes: act now. The rules are changing for those making claims for injuries under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). This may include Royal College of Nursing members assaulted at work.

RCN: RCN to join march against south west pay cartel. Royal College of Nursing members are set to protest against the south west cartel in a march taking place in Bristol this week. The south west pay cartel has been discussing proposals to potentially cut the pay, terms and conditions for NHS staff in the south west of England.

Reform: Doctors and nurses. "The best healthcare organisations in the world are the best employers because they understand the importance of human capital. In getting the best out of their doctors and nurses they exhibit shared behaviours or habits". This is essentially through adopting modern management practices. These practices are outlined and this report highlights the good practices of a number of hospitals and other organisations in this and other countries. 

Royal College of Physicians: Staff health improvement project. This project aims to facilitate faster implementation of NICE public health guidance relevant to the workplace by NHS trusts. The project is funded by the Department of Health and will be carried out in two phases.
RCN: New staff health improvement report. A new report has called for a board level lead to take proactive responsibility for staff health improvement and wellbeing in every NHS trust in England.

Royal College of Physicians (RCP): Acute care toolkit 5: Teaching on the acute medical unit. This toolkit provides practical guidance on how to define teaching and learning episodes more clearly, and facilitate learning on the AMU effectively when time is often limited.

Scottish Government: Nurse staffing levels. NHS Scotland is being mandated to use workload and workforce planning tools which have been designed to ensure that hospitals and communities in Scotland have the right numbers and mix of nursing staff. The evidence based tools, which take into account professional judgement and local care standards, are already being used in some areas, but will be made mandatory in all health board areas from next year.

Stroke Core Competencies for health and social care staff. This e-learning resource, based on the Stroke Core Competencies published by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) in 2005, focuses on a wide range of core knowledge and skills required by all staff when delivering stroke care.