Staff focus updates - 2 May 2013
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 eBulletin: staff focus.
Some of the resources linked to are in PDF format - see how to access PDF files.
BBC Health: Stafford hospital bosses could face misconduct probe. Two former Stafford Hospital bosses could face a police investigation over the Mid Staffordshire scandal. Ex-chief executive Martin Yeates and former chairwoman Toni Brisby have been accused of misleading the local council by giving false details about death rates. Stafford Borough Council wants the Crown Prosecution Service to examine whether Martin Yeates and Toni Brisby misled its health scrutiny panel.
BBC News: Calls for minimum nursing levels in hospitals. Minimum nursing staffing levels are needed to protect hospital patients from the impact of cuts in the NHS.
DH: Review announced on social work education. Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb has asked Professor David Croisdale-Appleby OBE, independent Chair of Skills for Care, to undertake a review of social work education.
DH: Indemnity or insurance for regulated healthcare professionals. The government wants to hear views on legislation that would mean all regulated healthcare professionals have to hold indemnity or insurance to practise. Most nurses and midwives are already covered by their employer’s arrangements or their own individual arrangements with insurance companies or professional bodies. However, all nurses and midwives will need to ensure that they are covered by an insurance or indemnity arrangement appropriate to their scope of practice in order to register with the NMC. The consultation closes on 17 May 2013.
DH: Guidance for NHS staff to spot and support trafficking victims. More victims of human trafficking will be identified thanks to new training and advice launched by Public Health Minister Anna Soubry. The new tools are designed to make it easier for NHS staff to spot and give help to people who have been illegally trafficked and are available to healthcare workers across the country.
DH: Guidance: School Health Service: briefing for local council members. From April 2013, local authorities are responsible for delivering and commissioning public health services for 5 to 19 year olds. This includes providing prevention and early intervention services, addressing key public health issues and delivering the Healthy Child Programme. School nurses are skilled in delivering these services and can work with local authorities to deliver effective public health programmes.
Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS): New Chief Nursing Officer appointed. Charlotte McArdle has been appointed as the new Chief Nursing Officer for Northern Ireland. She takes over from Professor Martin Bradley who retired in June 2011.
General Medical Council (GMC): A study to assess the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) on doctors’ performance and patient/service outcomes for the GMC (PDF 566KB). This study from the University of Sheffield assesses the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) on doctors’ performance and patient outcomes. The study makes a series of recommendations on CPD provision, content and process, and examines professional cultural environments and the role of organisations.
Guardian: Catholic nurses win the right not to help at abortions. Two Roman Catholic midwives have won the right to refuse to help with any abortion procedures or planning after an appeal court ruling in Scotland. Judges in Edinburgh ruled that Mary Doogan, 58, and Concepta Wood, 52, who worked as labour ward co-ordinators in Glasgow, had a legal right to consciously object to helping with abortions in any way.
National Nursing Research Unit (NNRU) King's College London: Policy+ Does NHS staff wellbeing affect patient experience of care? (PDF 554KB). "It may be reasonable to presume that patients receive better care from staff who feel happier in their work. However little is known about the strength or possible impact of associations between staff wellbeing and patient outcomes including their experiences of the care provided." Researchers in the NNRU have completed a study within the English NHS exploring the links between patients' experiences of health care and staff experiences at work such as staff motivation and wellbeing at work. Staff and patient views were captured at the team/unit level – where possible matching staff to the individual patients they cared for to test associations between staff and patient experience.
NHS Employers: Guidance for employers within the NHS on the process for making severance payments. This guidance has been formulated by the NHS Employers organisation to assist employers in handling special severance payments. Originally designed to cover senior managers, this guidance now outlines the process for issuing a special severance payment to any employee.
NHS Employers: The use of compromise agreements and confidentiality clauses. Guidance to help outline some of the legal boundaries which employers need to think about when considering the use of compromise agreements when terminating employment.
NHS Leadership Academy: Nurse leadership programmes. Leadership programmes available for all those aspiring to leadership roles of all levels in health and the public health system and those working in NHS funded care.
Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC): New Council appointed to NMC. The Privy Council has confirmed the appointment of ten people to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), in addition to the existing Chair, Mark Addison. The first formal meeting of the new Council will be 23 May 2013
NMC: NMC Corporate Plan 2013 - 2016 (PDF 1.7MB). The plan sets out the NMC's objectives and goals for the next three years, and also outlines how they intend to achieve them.
Public Health England: Key roles of nurses and midwives: PHE June conference. This conference brings together nurses and midwives to discuss the professions' contributions to improving health.
Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI): QNI News, Spring 2013. This issue features news about the QNI's statement on Government response to the Francis report; their annual QNI Conference and financial assistance for nurses.
RCN: RCN member’s poem goes viral on Youtube. A poem read by a second year nursing student at RCN Congress in Liverpool this week has gone viral on the internet, racking up more than 86,000 views in less than 48 hours. The poem, written and read by Molly Case, touches on the recent media criticism of nursing and has received overwhelming praise online.
RCN: RCN Council authorised to withdraw RCN from ICN. Royal College of Nursing members voted to authorise RCN Council to withdraw the organisation from membership of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) at an Extraordinary General Meeting in Liverpool this afternoon. The resolution was passed with 91.7 per cent of the vote.
Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE): E-readiness in the social care sector for SCIE. This Ipsos MORI study assessed the current use of perceptions of e-learning within the sector. The report also examines wider training practices and the adoption of ICT within the workplace, including an analysis of how ready employers and staff feel they are for e-learning. Findings will feed into SCIE’s Get Connected programme, which aims to enable providers of care for adults in England to access ICT more effectively.
SCIE: Adult safeguarding elearning resource. This resource promotes the safeguarding of adults at risk. Dramatised video scenarios have been used to show how safeguarding issues can develop, and to suggest ways of dealing with them that protect people at the same time as preserving their right to make choices about their lives.
SCIE: Induction standards for Northern Ireland. This resource is for anyone interested in induction in social care.
Scottish Government: One Year Job Guarantee for Nurses and Midwives: Guidance 2012/2013. The Scottish Government has been actively engaging with HEI institutions and NHS Boards to maximise job opportunities for newly registered nurses and midwives under the One Year Job Guarantee Scheme.
Wales Online: Culture of fear and intimidations is stopping nurses from speaking out, warns union. Nurses in Wales say they are being discouraged from raising concerns over patient care. Nurses operated in a culture of “fear and intimation” within the NHS which prevents them speaking out about bad care, the Royal College of Nursing is warning.