Sometimes in life, one group of professionals are disproportionately blamed for everything that is wrong with society — thus every banker was painted as a reckless gambler after the financial crash of 2008; journalists were collectively pilloried for the phone-hacking scandal; and estate agents ...well, they get blamed for pretty much everything else.
When it comes to healthcare, one group seems more routinely maligned than any other, whether for ballooning budgets or poor continuity of care. Despite plugging gaps in services, providing much needed holiday and sickness relief, and generally propping up creaking wards and community units, agency nurses often attract lurid headlines such as ‘How nursing agencies making billions are bleeding the NHS dry’ and ‘Trust pays an agency nurse £2,200 a day’. But behind the headlines, what is the truth about agency nurses? Are they really money-grabbing opportunists, or is there more to the role than meets the eye? I spoke to one agency nurse, Maggie Scott, to find out what motivates her to put flexibility above a full-time position.
JCN talks to those working in the community.
Amanda Munday, Community Nursing Sister, and Jane Jennion, Community Staff Nurse are both community nurses who work for Berkshire Healthcare. They work in West Berkshire, which is a large rural area with a spread out population. They aim to deliver care that enables people to stay in their homes, rather than going into hospital.
JCN talks to those working in the community.
Kate Arkley is a community RGN in Connemara, Ireland specialising in tissue viability and wound management. She has recently enrolled as a doctoral student.
In the latest in JCN’s series profiling the decision-makers in UK nursing, Jason Beckford-Ball spoke to Jane Cummings, England’s chief nursing officer, about patient-centred care and moving from acute to community services.
Although community nurses often work in isolation, it’s good know someone at a national level has got your back. Jason Beckford-Ball went to meet Viv Bennett and asked her about her vision for public health nursing in England.
Many of you will be familiar with The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) and its work — funding innovative projects; developing a network of Queen’s nurses’; supporting nurses who work with homeless people; influencing policy; and publishing reports.
Anne Pearson is Practice Development Manager at the Queen’s Nursing Institute.
With the introduction of the Health and Social Care bill, the challenge to district, community and public health nurses has never been greater. Strong leadership is required at all levels from the government down to team leaders.
As the architecture is put into place, one of the key appointments, the Director of Nursing and the Government's Principal Advisor on Public Health Nursing has been filled.
Here, Deborah Glover, JCN's editor, reports on her recent meeting with the post holder, Professor Viv Bennett, outlining her role and how she sees the future for JCN readers
