The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) annual conference will take place on 24–25 September in London.
This year, we have an international speaker, the American healthcare author Suzanne Gordon. Suzanne has written or edited nineteen books, including From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public. She is an expert in communication theory and is passionate about encouraging nurses to tell their story in a compelling and meaningful way that makes a difference to the public, media and commissioners. She has also written on other themes, including veterans’ health, nurse-patient ratios, patient safety, and teamwork.
A diagnosis of dementia is a life-changing experience for the person and their family. This can be made especially difficult if there is a significant delay in getting an accurate diagnosis, as well as there being insufficient postdiagnostic support and interventions for the person diagnosed or their family. Families report that caring can be an overwhelming experience made especially difficult if there is limited, or no access, to timely advice, support and interventions. The effects of dementia can bring irreversible changes to lives and relationships.
In the last 40 years, the population demographic of the UK has changed dramatically. Since 1974 to 2014, the percentage of those aged 65 and over grew by 47%, accounting for nearly 18% of the total population. During the same period, people aged 75 and over increased by 89%, making up a further 8% of the British populace (Office for National Statistics [ONS], 2018).
Many of you may have experienced heavy, aching, tired legs when returning home from work. We tend to put this down to a long day and to some extent we are right. However, over time, these symptoms could be a clinical manifestation of a condition known as chronic venous hypertension...
If you are one of the estimated 12 million people with some form of bladder or bowel problem in the UK, you will know that needing the toilet frequently can be an urgent requirement and you will often need to go at just a moment’s notice.
Aa district nurse with a specialist practitioner qualification (DNSPQ), I understand how important this role and the qualification are, not only to patients, but also to delivering the aims of providing care closer to home, as described in the Five year forward view (NHS England, 2014). This has to be led by highly competent, experienced and compassionate district nurses who have the additional training required to ensure the necessary skills and competence.
The National Garden Scheme (NGS) is the largest funder of the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) and, in fact, it is the largest charitable funder of nursing and caring organisations in the UK. We are often asked, how did this relationship originate?
A new, practical and informative guide to bolus feeding has been launched by Nutricia in response to requests from healthcare professionals, as this form of feeding is becoming more frequently used in clinical practice.
One in ten older people in the UK are suffering from, or at risk of malnutrition. This relatively unknown, yet significant issue, costs the NHS £19.6 billion per year (Elia, 2015). Often overshadowed by obesity as a public health issue, malnutrition impacts a person’s wellbeing; leading to further problems, such as an increase in hospital admissions, increased dependency and increased risk to life.
