A 'fabulous opportunity’ to shape policy’
An extended Q&A with the RCN’s new primary health care adviser Rebecca Cheatle, in support of an article in the August 2012 issue of RCN Bulletin.
What attracted you to the role and what skills and experience do you bring?
I’m a practice nurse by background, and a nurse prescriber. I’ve worked in walk-in centres as well as general practice but also spent 10 years working in the independent sector helping to deliver NHS contracts.
I completed my nurse training in the early 1990s, but later did a degree in psychology and practised as a psychologist before coming back into nursing, in practice nursing and practice development roles.
Before joining the RCN, I was self-employed as a consultant to organisations working in primary care, but I think this job is a fabulous opportunity to influence policy across the UK and to support and disseminate the brilliant work that so many of our members do.
What are emerging as your key work areas?
Nursing roles in clinical commissioning groups in England – that’s a very important area. But so too is helping members through the transition of care from acute to community services across the UK. Those members are doing a sterling job but there is a lot of uncertainly out there. They’re facing so many changes, and a lack of clarity about the future, that it’s causing high anxiety. But there are positive aspects to the change, which just need time to become embedded in practice.
How do you hope to work with the forums?
I work with five forums – Advanced Nursing Practice, Opthalmic Nursing, ENT/Maxillofacial Nursing, District Nurses and the Practice Nurses’ Association. I’ve been meeting the committees of each and I’ve started to work with them on the projects they’re engaged in. They’re undertaking really useful work – for example, we’ve just launched an education and training framework for staff in ear, nose and throat nursing, and the ENT/Maxillofacial Nursing Forum helped shape that.
I also think the forums offer a wealth of experience and the RCN can really make use of their expertise in their respective fields. And I’d like to bring the five forum chairs together for a day because I think we could all benefit from closer collaboration and pooling of knowledge and skills.
What needs to change in primary care over the next three years?
Investment in primary care staffing to allow the workforce to continue to deliver excellent clinical care to patients. We also need to better support newly qualified nurses to enable them to work safely and competently outside hospitals.
For the NHS in England, clinical commissioning groups will have a huge role to play in ensuring services are fit for purpose but for all the four UK countries, it’s vital that we learn from each other – each can be a rich source of help and support.