Royal College of Nursing Representing nurses and nursing, promoting excellence in practice, shaping health policies
Search Menu

Your web browser is outdated and may be insecure

The RCN recommends using an updated browser such as Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome

Bristol

RCN Greater Bristol branch

If you're an RCN member working in Greater Bristol, you're automatically a member of our Greater Bristol branch. Welcome to your nursing community.

Getting involved in our branch means more than attending meetings. Whether you’re organising for better conditions, supporting a colleague or pushing for systemic change, your involvement helps turn shared concerns into collective action.

We are looking for new executive committee members to join our branch team at our AGM. These could include: a Chair; a Secretary; a Treasurer; a Vice Chair; an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Lead; an Activist Organiser;  a Global Majority Lead; a Communications Officer; a Social Media Lead; a Wellbeing Officer; a Student Liaison Officer; a Nursing Support Worker Lead; a Weston Lead; an NBT Lead; a UHB Lead; an Independent Sector Lead. Please note the first three roles are compulsory - the rest are ideas. 

Contact us

southwestern.region@rcn.org.uk

Your branch team

  • Chair:  Andrea Bennett
  • Secretary:  Fiona King
  • Treasurer: Karen McGlone

Join our Bristol Facebook group

Be the first to know about meetings and connect with your fellow branch members

View all branches in the South West

All branch events

Our branch annual general meeting (AGM)

Every year, our branch holds its annual general meeting (AGM). We review our branch activity over the past twelve months, before mapping out what we want to achieve over the next year. It's also a chance to discuss with your fellow branch members the issues which are most important to you right now.

This is your chance to help set the nursing agenda. Details of the next AGM will be posted in the events section as soon as available.




Our branch and RCN Congress

Branches play a key role in RCN Congress. Our members can submit debate topics for the annual conference, which are then discussed and voted on by the wider membership, influencing the RCN's future work.

All members can attend RCN Congress for free. There are also fully funded voting places for members, where travel, accommodation and food are provided. Voting members are there to listen, participate and vote on resolutions that are proposed by RCN branches, forums and committees across the UK.

This year's applications for funded voting places are closed. Details of 2026 funded places will be posted here as soon as available.

Branch policies and processes

Hear from members across our region



3 blog posts
  • Jenny Bowen Jenny Bowen 25 Jun 2024

    Developing a successful programme for new starters in primary care

    Jenny Bowen, Legacy Nurse for Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire Primary Care, explains how she set up a programme for new starters which has helped nearly 80 nurses find their feet.

  • Vicky Brotherton, Chair of the RCN Plymouth Branch Vicky Brotherton Vicky Brotherton 20 Sep 2023

    Get active – what does that even mean?

    I became ‘RCN active’ in about 2013 but what does ‘get active’ even mean? Well, for me it's been a rollercoaster of a journey. A journey through which I have made life-long friends and made a difference to colleagues in my workplace and across the profession. 

  • Emma Hallam 800x400 Emma Hallam Emma Hallam 18 Sep 2023

    Job evaluation raises pay and reward for nursing support workers in Bristol

    In 2021 new job profiles were agreed by Staff Council, which includes the RCN and NHS Employers. The new profiles say that Band 2 staff should be undertaking tasks such as feeding, bathing, toileting, recording fluid balance and nutrition while any staff undertaking patient observations and clinical care such as monitoring heart and blood pressure rates, taking bloods, wound observation and urine analysis should be job evaluated to Band 3. This meant that many staff were entitled to a re-band.

Elections and appointments

Get more involved by putting yourself forward as a candidate for Council, a board, a committee or a forum. You can also make your voice heard by voting in our current elections.
View our elections and appointments
A smiling woman

Put forward an agenda item for Council

Members can submit an agenda item for Council to discuss at one of their meetings. If your submission is accepted, you can present it to Council during the meeting, either remotely or in person.
Submit an agenda item
Image of man at Congress with hands clasped together

Page last updated - 03/06/2025

RCN Logo on White