The NMC have welcomed the Department of Health’s consultation on proposed changes to the legislation to enable the regulation of nursing associates – a new role in the nursing team. The consultation will be open until 26 December 2017, and changes to the legislation are expected to come into force by July 2018. The consultation on the fees that nursing associates will need to pay is also now open. This consultation proposes fees for nursing associates joining the register and renewing their registration.
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Jackie Smith, NMC chief executive and Registrar gave evidence to UK Parliament’s Health Select Committee on the nursing workforce. She spoke about the need for investment in CPD. She said: “Cuts to CPD are a major, major issue and that’s what I hear when I go around the UK. The nursing profession does not feel valued…So for them, they think, ‘I may as well go elsewhere and do something else.’ And that’s tragic. That’s not what we need.”
She also said that revalidation seemed to deepen nurses’ commitment to the profession. She said: “[the] expectation would be that they would leave in droves. What has happened is the reverse. They value CPD, reflecting on practice and thinking about the standards set out in the Code. 90 percent have revalidated in last 18 months. That is the importance of CPD.”
The NMC are developing new standards of proficiency that student midwives will need to meet in order to join the profession. As part of this work, they are holding workshops to discuss the midwife’s role, and how it might look in the future. Women, families, midwives, student midwives, employers and educators joined members of the NMC, where everyone shared their thoughts and ideas about the future of midwifery. Further workshops will take place across the UK in early 2018.
The Higher Education Dementia Network has commented that student nurses are failing to be taught about dementia care to the same standard due to inconsistent approaches by regulators. The Nursing Times has reported on the remarks including that the group says that there is a risk that that there may be different levels of knowledge, skills, competencies and attitudes towards caring for people with dementia.
A national audit of inpatient falls by the Royal College of Physicians is currently contracted and covers falls prevention through audit and quality improvement. The audit is on their website and was started in 2015.
MBRACCE-UK have launched the third MBRRACE-UK Perinatal Confidential Enquiry Report; Term singleton, intrapartum stillbirth and intrapartum related neonatal death.
The full report and the executive summary, together with the lay summary and an infographic illustrating the headline findings can be downloaded from the MBRRACE-UK website.
Two progress reports- one into an investigation into the care and treatment of patients on Tawel Fan ward and the second – a wider review of governance across older persons mental health was presented to members of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board on the 9th November 2017.
The findings of the independent investigation by HASCAS and the Ockenden review of governance will be published in March of next year. Donna Ockenden completed the first report into Tawel Fan ward in September 2014 with the number of cases under review by HASCAS now at 108. Donna Ockenden has engaged with 100 service users or their representatives and 120 current and former members of staff at BCUHB as part of this second piece of work.
Researchers at the Universities of Bristol and Oxford found that the risk of emergency hospital admission was more than twice as high for patients with the least continuity of care compared with those with high continuity of care.
The Daily Telegraph writes that official government figures show that more than 1,000 cases of suspected abuse of vulnerable adults are now being reported every day. The Care Quality Commission heavily criticised the care home sector earlier this year, after finding than one in four care homes in England was unsafe.
The main topic of discussion at the Health Select Committee this week was the 60% cut to continuing professional development (CPD) The Nursing Times reported that Jackie Smith warned that ‘the reduction in funding for training nurses throughout their careers was contributing to them feeling undervalued.’
The Nursing Times reports that Jackie Smith, chief executive and registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council has called on nurses and midwives to get their flu jab ahead of the coming winter period. The NMC strongly encourage all nurses and midwives to receive their flu jab as influenza is a highly contagious illness and the flu season this year could be worse than in previous years.
Twelve mental health bodies have written an open letter urging ministers they ‘cannot go on’ with so many patients ‘locked out’ of vital services. The leading charities requested the Government address the ‘crisis’ of mental health services in UK say The Independent.