Nurses suggest improvements to the NHS
Published: 13 November 2009
Nurses and midwives from across the UK have responded to an NHS-wide initiative asking them to identify the changes to practice they have made that have had the most impact on patient care, quality and efficiency.
As a result of the submissions, from over 600 nurses and midwives, eight key action themes have emerged. The actions will now form the backbone of further economic analysis, help create 'how to' guides for each key theme and be used to develop a programme for implementation to support the spread, adoption and sustainability of the actions across the NHS as part of the Quality and Productivity framework.
The Chief Nursing Officer for England, Dame Christine Beasley, launched the themes at the Chief Nursing Officer's Conference yesterday (12 November 2009).
Further information
High Impact Actions for Nursing and Midwifery is a joint initiative by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, the Royal College of Nursing, the Department of Health, the Royal College of Midwives and the Nursing and Midwifery Council and is led by the strategic health authorities.
The eight key High Impact Action themes are:
- Your skin matters: no avoidable pressure ulcers in NHS provided care.
- Staying safe - preventing falls: demonstrate a year on year reduction in the number of falls sustained by older people in NHS provided care.
- Keeping nourished - getting better: stop inappropriate weight loss and dehydration in NHS provided care.
- Promoting normal birth: increase normal birth rate nationally and eliminate unnecessary caesarean sections by midwives taking the lead role in the case of normal pregnancy and labour.
- Important choices - where to die when the time comes: avoid inappropriate admission to hospital and increase the numbers of people who are able to die in the place of their choice.
- Fit and well to care: reduce sickness absence in the nursing and midwifery workforce, aiming for no more than 3%.
- Ready to go - no delays: increase the number of patients in NHS provided care who have their discharge managed and led by a nurse or midwife where appropriate.
- Protection from infection: demonstrate a dramatic reduction in the rate of urinary tract infections (UTIs) for patients in NHS provided care.
Read more on the High Impact Actions on the NHS Institute website.