On a cold and damp Tuesday in February, the new rheumatology committee members met together for the first time at RCN HQ. We spent the day discussing ways in which the forum can best support and represent its members, while promoting the nature, scope and value of rheumatology nursing. Our aim continues to be that of influencing changes in rheumatology for the benefit of nurses, but especially for our patients.

I have been a member of the committee for two years and my role is now that of Vice-Chair. This has felt a little daunting but also exciting as it gives me an opportunity to push myself outside of my comfort zone. Amazingly, not only do we have a full committee, but we also have another paediatric nurse on the committee. This gives us an opportunity to learn from each other as well as to raise the profile of paediatric and adolescent rheumatology, we are definitely stronger together.

The conversations around the table automatically focused on some of the current challenges within our roles, such as:

• patient complexity, especially for those with connective tissue disease
• staffing
• and in particular, vacancies - due to the current financial constraints within the NHS coupled with a lack of understanding regarding the role of the rheumatology nurse and the expectation that we would take on more and more roles, without the appropriate recognition or banding.

It was in some ways a relief to know that we are not facing these issues on our own, but reinforces the importance of working together to address these challenges.

Using the RCN competency framework as well as online tools such as Apollo Nursing Resource may help with these ongoing issues. 

Over the last year, the committee has been working to update the subcutaneous methotrexate guideline which is close to being published. As there are no other current publications due to be reviewed and updated, we want to use the year ahead to provide some webinars for our members and discussed some possible topics for these which included health and well-being, succession planning, the advice line and fatigue.

We also discussed the possibility of arranging a study day for our members whilst acknowledging the difficulties many nurses face in obtaining study leave, let alone obtaining funding for this. However, we want to hear from our members as to what topics they would like us to provide webinars on, feel free to comment on our Facebook page.

As we go into the year, there are various upcoming conferences to look forward to starting with the British Society of Rheumatology (BSR) conference in Glasgow at the end of April. There will be a RCN stand at BSR manned by the committee members. For those of you able to attend, please do come and say hello to us, we really look forward to meeting you. I feel 2026 will be an exciting year!