Nurses in all settings work across the four pillars of nursing: clinical practice, education, research and leadership. Alongside direct patient care, this includes continuing professional development (CPD), revalidation, audit, supervision of students, quality improvement and service development. Despite being essential to safe, effective and sustainable patient care, these activities are rarely allocated protected time within nursing job plans. Many nurses report completing professional responsibilities during breaks, after shifts or in their own time.

In contrast, supporting professional activities (SPA) time is a well-established component of job planning for medical and allied health professional colleagues. National frameworks such as NHS England’s Allied Health Professionals Job Planning Best Practice Guide and the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland’s Clinical Nurse Specialist Job Planning Toolkit recognise SPA as a core element of professional practice and workforce planning.

The absence of recognised SPA time within most nursing roles contributes to workload pressures, fatigue and challenges in maintaining professional development alongside clinical demands. It also risks undervaluing the full scope of modern nursing practice.

This resolution calls on RCN Council to lobby for the inclusion of SPA time within nursing job plans, so that essential professional activity is recognised, protected and supported within nursing roles.

References

NHS England (no date) Allied health professionals job planning: a best practice guide. Available at: england.nhs.uk/ahp/allied-health-professionals-job-planning-a-best-practice-guide/ (Accessed 24 March 2026).

Public Health Agency (2014) Job Planning Guidance Toolkit for Clinical Nurse Specialist Roles. Available at: publichealth.hscni.net/publications/job-planning-guidance-toolkit-clinical-nurse-specialist-roles (Accessed 24 March 2026).