Professional Nursing Committee Report to Members – July 2021

Background

1. This report reflects work done by the Professional Nursing Committee since the last report to Council and an update from our most recent meeting on 21 July 2021.

Report of the Meeting on 21 July 2021

2. I updated the Committee on recent developments within the College including the appointment of Pat Cullen as interim General Secretary & Chief Executive and Susan Aitkenhead’s appointment as Director of Nursing and Deputy General Secretary & Chief Executive. We also noted that Carol Popplestone is now acting Chair of RCN Council.

3. As Chair of the Professional Nursing Committee, I have already been in touch will all three to offer our full support in their new roles. We were grateful that Pat was able to join our meeting to introduce herself.

4. We discussed the petition calling for the title ‘nurse’ to be protected in UK law and confirmed the PNC’s support for this position. We acknowledged the support of Council for the ‘principles behind the petition’ and their intention to take this matter to Congress for debate via an emergency resolution.

Director’s Update

5. We heard that following the AGM in May preliminary discussions have taken place with the President and Chief Executive of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) regarding our intention to re- join membership. We will be kept updated as arrangements progress.

6. We discussed the continuing challenges of COVID and the ongoing advocacy and lobbying work on the need to update and strengthen national guidance on PPE and well-ventilated working environments. Whilst recognising the excellent work being done in this area we would welcome firmer messaging from the College to support members across workplace settings in ensuring access to higher levels of PPE where required.

7. Additionally, we discussed the work being undertaken on the impact of long COVID on the workforce and will be working with the College to ensure we adequately support members who are experiencing this condition, and to highlight the nursing role (actual and potential) in developing and delivering services for this complex condition.

8. We also received feedback from the England launch of the RCN Prince of Wales Nursing Cadet Scheme on 19 July and welcomed the continuing development of this excellent programme.

2021 Q2 Performance Dashboard

9. We reviewed the Q2 performance dashboard and discussed our KPIs for 2021 which require some further refinement in order that we can clearly identify the outcomes of particular workstreams, measure impact and manage risk.

PNC Work Programme 2021

10. We then considered progress to date against our 2021 work programme and received detailed reports on three key workstreams as below.

11. We noted the timeline for development of an RCN research strategy and commented on the draft aims of the strategy. We fully support the direction of travel and will be identifying a PNC member to represent us on the task and finish group.

12. We noted that implementation of the Education, Learning and Development Strategy is proceeding with the appointment/ secondment of key staff members for the programme team and the establishment of the Joint Partnership Board. The scope and complexity of this programme, which sits across RCN and RCNi, has led to the need to extend phase 1 of implementation.

13. We also received an update on the work to establish an RCN professional framework and supported the work to date, which is still in its early stages. We highlighted the importance of this programme; clarifying and owning what registered nurses do, the contribution of the nursing support worker, the complexity of nursing ‘work’ and how it impacts on patient experience and outcomes.

International Workforce Policy Programme

14. We received a report on the international workforce policy programme and reviewed updated policy positions on immigration.

15. We supported the need for the RCN position on international recruitment to always align with the ethical recruitment framework and emphasised the need to focus on a sustainable pipeline of registered nurses from all sources and investment to develop an increased domestic supply of UK trained nurses.

16. We will be discussing further updated policy positions on international policy at our meetings in September and November.

RCN Forums

17. We received an update on the ongoing review of professional forums and networks which is currently on track for a report and recommendations to come to PNC in September.

18. We recognised the complexity of the process and the importance of gathering views from key stakeholders and the wider membership. We discussed succession planning for the roles of Forum Chair and agreed that currently governance processes for the forums require some greater clarity. This will be included within the review.

UK Staffing for Safe and Effective Care (SSEC)

19. We received feedback from the SSEC UK Programme Board and noted four country plans for 2021. We also discussed the recent review of the programme and heard that the principles underpinning this work are currently being refreshed to bring them into alignment with the themes of the Nursing Workforce Standards. A full work plan is being developed along with KPIs and risks which we expect to see at our next meeting for feedback and contribution prior to an update to Council in the autumn.

Welcome to the President

20. We were delighted that our newly elected President, Dr Denise Chaffer, was able to join the meeting to introduce herself and meet members. Denise spoke about her priorities as President as well as her role as Director of Safety and Learning at NHS Resolutions.

Country/ Regional Activity

21. Members reported back on activity in their country or region. Staff absences due to COVID remained a concern across all countries and regions along with concerns regarding the pending decision on whether vaccinations will become mandatory.

22. We noted that Public Health England are updating their guidance on self-isolation for health and care staff.

23. Concerns were raised via the Students Committee on disparities in practice between Trusts on whether students can or can’t instant report/ datix.

RCN Group Strategy 2022-2024

24. We noted that RCN is coming to the end of a three-year strategy cycle and so a new Group strategy will be developed over the coming months for 2022-2024. We discussed the ‘big five’ operational programmes and the requirement for both operational priorities and strategic intent. We agreed on the need to ensure the RCN strategy strengthens our position as a Royal College. We will be discussing this further in our development session on 19 August.

UK Organising

25. We were joined by Stephanie Goodwin, the new Head of UK Organising, who updated us on work to date. We heard that the ‘Organising for Power’ pilot training has been well received by many, but the approach to training does not necessarily fit with all members, and that the team are piloting an RCN tailored training programme this summer. Both approaches will be evaluated.

26. We discussed where PNC would see some of the priorities for this work and highlighted safe staffing as an area where organising could potentially play an important role.

Other Business

27. At the end of our meeting, we noted two information papers – one on the work of the Sheffield Research Alliance and a second paper updating us on RCN endorsement activity of externally produced professional standards and resources between January – June 2021.

28. We discussed how well the research alliance with Sheffield University was working in practice and noted that development of the RCN research strategy will be an opportunity to review this further.

29. Finally, we acknowledged that a number of seats on the Professional Nursing Committee are up for election this year. The nomination process is now open closing on 3 September 2021.

The Committee next meets on 19 August for an inclusive leadership workshop and discussion on where we would see RCN’s strategic priorities for 2022-2024 in order that we can contribute to the work of Council in leading strategy development.

Our next formal meeting takes place on 8 September 2021.

Committee Membership

Rachel Hollis (Yorkshire and the Humber – CHAIR) Siobhan Donald (Northern Ireland – VICE CHAIR) Carly Boyce (South West) Mary Codling (South East) Theresa Connor (Scotland) Tracie Culpitt (Nursing Support Worker) Tim Grace (Northern) Julie Green (West Midlands) Sue Haines (East Midlands) Alison Leary (London) Denise Llewellyn (Wales) Kendal Moran (Student) Fiona Sommerville (Eastern) Sally Young (North West)

Apologies for the meeting were received from Siobhan Donald and Sally Young.

Rachel Hollis Chair, Professional Nursing Committee [email protected]