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Listening and engaging with our profession will be key

Julie Lamberth 25 Aug 2023

Your campaigning led Scotland’s First Minister to commit to a Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce and now you are being given the opportunity to help shape the work of that Taskforce.

Taskforce Announcement

To have an impact, the Taskforce must deliver funded, timely and meaningful actions to retain nursing staff, address the unsustainable levels of vacancies, expand the routes into nursing and ultimately to grow Scotland’s nursing workforce.

From the outset the RCN has been clear that listening to, and engaging with, the profession will be key to developing these actions and to making a difference in the face of the current nursing workforce crisis. 

The Listening Project has been set up to give you that opportunity to engage. An initial survey, developed by the Scottish government, has opened this week. It explains a bit more about what the Taskforce is looking to achieve and seeks your views on the key themes that have been identified.

These are:

  • the wellbeing of nursing and midwifery staff 
  • how to attract and encourage people to choose nursing and midwifery
  • how to improve the culture and leadership within teams
  • how to support and expand education and development opportunities
  • and, of course, how all of these support the retention of Scotland’s existing dedicated and experienced registered nurses, midwives and nursing support workers.

Please take five to 10 minutes to complete this survey and give your views. This will help the members of the Taskforce, including the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care, Michael Matheson MSP, to focus on the areas that matter to you.

The RCN is also looking to capture your lived experience to help inform the work of the Taskforce. Our SenseMaker tool uses your experiences to provide evidence and helps us advocate for change. Taking part is easy, you simply share your experience by answering a series of questions. Behind the scenes, SenseMaker analyses your words to identity trend and patterns alongside the experiences shared by other nursing staff, creating reports that ultimately help us better represent you and the wider nursing workforce.

Your voice matters, please use it.

Julie Lamberth, Chair, RCN Scotland Board

Julie Lamberth

Chair, RCN Scotland Board

Page last updated - 23/01/2024