Today’s NHS ‘talks the talk’, but does it ‘walk the walk’ when it comes to Nurse Leadership and Career opportunities?

The Vanguards have already begun trialling New Models of Care to test which models work indifferent communities to deliver the 5YFV.

It is widely accepted that Nurses (and all Health Care Professionals) need to work ‘at the top of their license’.  Prompted by the Shape of Caring Review, there is a call for better structures and pathways for Nursing education, training and careers.  This report suggested the introduction of the new Nursing Associate role, test beds for which, are due to start next month.

So, it looks like the RN of the future needs to be adaptable to work in new ways, in new environments and with new members of the workforce. This will surely require strong leadership skills. Not only to work well once these new ways are the norm (in 2020 and beyond), but also to help lead the transformation from the current systems that we work in. Chief Nurse, Jane Cummings, has identified this in her framework Leading Change, Adding Value.  

There is much debate on whether leadership skills can be taught and if so, how? One technique becoming more common place in health care is the use of career development opportunities to help provide ‘on the job’ experiential and vertical leadership development.

Both in and out of the Vanguards, we’re now seeing an emergence of less traditional Nursing job opportunities, with the feeling that ‘time served’ is no longer an essential requirement, aiming to attract and retain younger generations.  But without the aid of a clear career structure, we run the risk of the pioneers of these roles feeling unsupported and stuck out on a limb. They may feel they have to take a step back onto the more well-trod (often less flexible) path in order to succeed. In these cases, we’ve talked the talk, enticed them in and created new opportunities, but do we really walk the walk and continue to deliver?

1. How do we best equip the future Nursing Workforce with the leadership skills they require?
2. How can we help bring ‘Leading Change, Adding Value’ to life?
3. What creative career pathways have you seen/would you like to see in Nursing?
4. Do any other professions/industries do this well?

About our guest hosts

Laura Hailes - Laura has spent the last year working across the East Midlands as a Transformation Fellow, researching the Nurse Leadership needed for the 5YFV. She has a particular interest in career development opportunities and how these can help shape the Nursing Workforce of the future.  She has had an unorthodox career herself, in between developing her clinical skills as an Acute Ward-based Nurse, she has designed and delivered complex organisational change, helping frontline staff become more involved in decision making processes.  She was nominated for a variety of awards for her work in this arena, culminating in being named in the Nursing Times’ Rising Stars List 2015. 

Kathryn Draper - Kathryn trained in Nottingham and qualified in 2004, after working on a surgical ward she moved to Critical Care at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) in 2005 where she stayed for 5 years. Her passion for the training and development of nurses saw her change course in 2010 and, with a colleague, she created the preceptorship programme at NUH. 2011 saw her return to clinical practice as a Clinical Nurse Educator in Critical Care, gaining a promotion in 2012 as a Practice Development Matron also within Critical Care. This job gave her the opportunity to implement change in the development of the current workforce and planning for future generations. Her drive to learn new things, support and educate staff led her to commencing her current post as Rotation Development Lead Nurse in April 2016, working across the county of Nottinghamshire with both acute and community settings to establish a new post for band 5 nurses to rotate between both settings and create a bespoke education programme to complement their journey.