A recent perspectives piece in the Journal of Research in Nursing "Tactics for influencing policy" by Andree le May discussed keynotes delivered at the RCN International Research Conference around using research to influence policy.  The article extrapolates 6 key tactics from the keynotes that people could use to help to influence policy:Generate high quality, relevant and timely research that policy makers will find usefulIdentify a receptive context where these research findings and ideas are likely to make an impact on policy and/or practiceCreate and frame arguments within it that will promote the adoption of ideasCollaborate and to bring people together to blend research with other sorts of evidenceBe persuasive through their use of c ...

This discussion expands on a impromptu twitter conversation some of us took part in a couple of weeks ago looking at productivity and efficiency and technology in district nursing, you can catchup here. We Invited Nick Chinn (@NRCUK) to expand on the tweets in a formal #WeDNs chat. Nick has provided this pre-chat information for this #WeDNs taking place at 8pm on October 25th, please take a read and join the chat too that Nick will be co-hosting with us. Nick writes:I’ve recently started working in London, a stone's through away from @DHgovUK and @NHSEngland, it's great seeing Parliament buildings, Big Ben, London Eye and the Thames regularly in my day, not everyone's cup of tea, but I like it. I used to do trips up from Bristol regularly b ...

Following on from the recent Value Maker Annual Conference #VMAC2017 there's so much we could discuss, share and learn around finance training. We will....- share how do we keep all of our current finance staff up to date?- look at how to support the next generation of finance professionals, i.e. cadets and apprentices?- discuss how to engage with patients in finance training?- share tips for training non-finance staff?Set the date in your diary - look forward to seeing you on our chat!Dale and Shaun, Value Makers, NHS Wigan Borough CCG ...

Two conversations caught my eye on Twitter last night, both seemed to get a lot of air time.  The first conversation was sparked by this tweet from @DebsCooper131:The tweet got many responses and a good deal of interaction with lots of people tweeting about finding and loosing pens.  It was a good fun sort of thread.The second tweet and ensuing conversation that captured my interest was sparked by this Tweet from @captaintau:There were lots of answers to this tweet and subsequent conversation, and I have to admit that some of the comments surprised me a little.The two tweets got me thinking as both mention tools that we can use in nursing, the humble pen – been around for eons, everybody has one in their pocket (or even three if you are sup ...

At the 2017 Chief Allied Health Profession’s Conference, Prof Helen Stokes Lampard, chair of the Royal College of General Practice, spoke on the future of General Practice. Her key message however wasn’t the practicalities and future vision for doctors, but rather how as healthcare practitioners we seek out joy in daily practice. “When work is a pleasure, life is joy! When work is a duty, life is slavery.” Maxim GorkyCounteract the culture of cynicismSickness absence is reported to cost the NHS £2.4billion a year – around 2.5% of the overall budget of the NHS. Of this, NHS employers reports 30% is stress related. Constant changes to structure, a barrage of negative headlines relating to Healthcare, and an overwhelming sense of cynicism and ...

Recently Paula and I had the opportunity to travel to Cambodia for an international placement in a referral hospital, there were 16 other student nurses, (3 learning disability students, 3 child and 11 adult). The trip was organised through Transform Health Care Cambodia with Graham Jones (Charity Director) who is an Adult Nurse Lecturer at Teesside University. We were aware that there are no specific learning disability healthcare services in Cambodia, this report highlights the areas where this needs to be developed. We knew that the placement opportunity would be observational in nature. This was an opportunity to work alongside students and staff from other fields of practice, as well as Cambodian student nurses and qualified staff.W ...

There has been lots of talk lately that soon the NHS will reach the grand old age of 70 , with #NHS70 gaining momentum and articles such asthe ones below are popping up in preparation of the celebration of the NHS:Project marks 70 years of the NHS with peoples stories of the service - The Guardian  As NHS approaches 70 it is time to unleash the potential of innovation to transform patient care, says Simon Stevens - NHS EnglandNHS 70: Celebrating 70 years of the NHS - NHS EnglandSet up in 1948 the vision of a free at point of access health service for all was truly aspirational:   click to view in new windowNow at the age of (almost) 70 the NHS is perhaps in need of some TLC itself.  With an ageing population, cuts on resources, not enough n ...

The aim of this forum is to explore the  concept of leadership in nursing using Twitter as a medium for discussion on the topic. The main question for the discussion is: Do you think that social media – particularly Twitter – is an effective tool to lead? This @WeNurses chat will be interested in nurses' views on this topic and, I would like to ask the following questions:1.     What does leadership mean for you?a.     What are the characteristics of a great nurse leader?b.     Do you know some nurse leaders who are on Twitter? Can you mention them on the discussion? What are their current positions?c.     What are your impressions with them who constantly engage with their followers? 2.     Do you think that social media – particularly Twi ...

A day of action from the PSNC, NPA and other pharmacy organisations to promote the value of pharmacy, with the theme of reducing winter pressures on the NHS. Collect the ways you and your team do this and share them in our chat in the evening of the action day. More details to come! ...

A few weeks ago Benny Goodman wrote the blog below (you can view Bennys blog HERE) The blog poses many questions and raises some important issues about safe staffing and Benny has kindly agreed to guest host #WeNurses to explore this more.  In the meantime we have reposted the blog (below) as essential background reading for this discussion: The Royal College of Nursing has just published a report  this September (Borneo, Helm and Russell 2017) on staffing. This followed from a previous report in May 2017: ‘Effective staffing –  the real picture‘The RCN also provided evidence in Scotland in July 2017.  Half of the survey  said patient care was compromised by insufficient staffing on their most recent shift. These claims emerged in a submiss ...

Staff ResiliencGrowing caseloads, increasingly complex care and limited resources are some of the challenges associated with modern day district nursing (Gray, 2016). Brennan (2017) suggests building resilience amongst staff to help overcome challenges associated with the current working environment. Resilience has been described as maintaining equilibrium in challenging situations, remaining optimistic through changing situations and using negative experiences as learning opportunities (Lee et al. 2015, Itzhaki et al. 2015). Conversely, Barker (2016) highlights that there can be many barriers to building resilience including poor working relationships, overwhelming workload and a negative working environment. Rolfe(2011), Munir et al. (201 ...

Author: Jacqui Graves, Sue Ryder’s Human Rights LeadIn our normal day-to-day lives and in the media, ‘human rights’ is a term that is bandied about with very little understanding of what it actually means. In our lives as health and social care professionals, our understanding is often equally as limited. When someone is ‘safeguarded’ or a ‘best interest decision’ is made about an individual using care services, what is being safeguarded is someone’s human rights. Yet there is a quirk in most organisations’ approach to training in that safeguarding and mental capacity are covered by mandatory training for most health and social care professionals, but human rights isn’t. The irony is that practitioners would be more confident in their dec ...