Primary Care toolkit from the London Network for Nurses and Midwives
Published: 08 November 2007
Commissioning a patient led NHS - a toolkit for nurses
In November 2005 The London Network for Nurses and Midwives invited nurses working in PCTs across London to come together to discuss Creating a patient led NHS (2005).
The aim of this event was to establish what skills, capabilities and attributes nurses working in primary care needed to engage successfully with the changing infrastructures that were about to occur in the NHS.
The primary care group of The London Network felt that it was important that nurses were aware of the changes brought about by “Creating a Patient Led NHS”; how they may be affected by them and how they could optimise the potential opportunities. The paper Modernising nursing careers (2006) clearly identifies the need for nurses to respond to new challenges; to be prepared to work in different ways and for different organisations; and most importantly sees nurses as leading, co-ordinating and commissioning care as well as giving care.
This toolkit is a result of that event. It provides an explanation of commissioning, the different ways services can be commissioned and its relevance to public health and long term conditions, as well as practical steps for nurses wanting to become involved in any stage of the process.
The advice in the toolkit will be of use to nurses, midwives, health visitors and allied health professionals.
The London Network for Nurses and Midwives was created by Professor Christine Beasley in 1999 when she was Regional Nursing Director for London. It is an established leadership process supported by The Directors of Nursing, HEIs in London and the chief nurse for London Trish Morris-Thompson. The Network allows more front line nurses, and midwives to have a voice on professional issues and agendas related to modernising health and social care and improving patients and carer’s experience of health care in London.