NEWS
Shape of Caring review aims to improve training By Kat Keogh The quality of nurse training in England will be in the spotlight when a major review of pre and post-registration education is launched next month. The Nursing and Midwifery Council and nurse education and training provider Health Education England (HEE) have teamed up to see how nurse and healthcare assistant training can be improved to boost patient care. The Shape of Caring review comes after concerns about the standard of nurse training were raised in Robert Francis QC’s report on Mid Staffs. A key focus will be the controversial pilot programme where prospective nursing students work as healthcare assistants (HCAs) for a year before embarking on a nursing degree. An HEE spokesperson said the structure of the review will be discussed at a meeting next month, and recommendations are expected to be made in a final report in early 2015.
‘To ensure that our nurses and HCAs receive high quality education and training, which supports high quality patient care, our organisations have partnered to formally establish the Shape of Caring review,’ the spokesperson added. ‘This should produce healthcare professionals of high calibre, who are able to meet the changing needs of patients and the broader population.’ The review will be headed up by Lord Willis of Knaresborough, who led an RCN-commissioned review into nurse education in 2012. The Liberal Democrat peer has criticised the HCA pilot scheme, which was launched last autumn. The 2012 Willis commission made 29 recommendations, including mandatory regulation of HCAs, more placements in the community and dedicated time for mentorship. Click here to read the findings of Lord Willis’ previous education review
Be firm and ask for more says nurse practitioner Nurses attached to GP surgeries should not be afraid to demand more money if they are asked to work weekends, a leading nurse practitioner has said. Jenny Aston’s comments follow prime minister David Cameron’s announcement last week that more than 7.5 million
PRACTICE NURSES HAVE MORE POWER THAN IN THE PAST – Jenny Aston
people in England will be offered more access to their GP surgeries at evenings and weekends, with £50 million funding for 1,147 practices to offer extra services at times convenient for patients.
But Ms Aston, a nurse practitioner in Cambridge and chair of the nursing group of the Royal College of GPs’ General Practice Foundation, said: ‘Advanced practice nurses will probably be expected to do their bit one evening a month. I do not think they would get any more money for that. But if nurses are asked to do weekends, they can be firmer about pay than before because there is a shortage of practice nurses and they have a bit more power than in the past.’ RCN head of policy Howard Catton said that Mr Cameron’s plans for extending access were ‘light on nursing’. He added: ‘They make it feel that doctors are the answer to everything, but really it is about the whole multidisciplinary team, including nurses, not just GPs’
WORLD IN BRIEF Wages dispute Nurses in Kenya are threatening strike action over the non-payment of wages. Staff at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret claim they have not received certain allowances that form part of their total pay. The government has appointed an arbitrator from the Labour Ministry to mediate in the dispute between the Kenya National Union of Nurses and the hospital. Pay disputes have been going on for several months. Earlier this year some nurses were not even given uniforms, said union secretary Seth Panyako. Law change A politician in China has been given a five-month prison sentence for slapping a nurse, with the option of paying a five-month daily fine of £40 instead. Kuomintang Luchu township representative Wang Kui-fen received the sentence at the Taoyuan District Court. Last November, Ms Kui-fen had phoned a hospital to enquire about the condition of her father, being treated there. She was annoyed at the attitude of the nurse who answered the call, went to the hospital and slapped the nurse. As a result of the incident Chinese law has been changed so that anyone who violently obstructs or threatens a health worker could face up to three years in prison. Virus alert A respiratory virus has spread among patients and health workers in parts of the Middle East, with one nurse dying. Bandar Bin Salim Al-Kuthairy, a nurse at King Abdulaziz Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, died of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Relatives said he contracted the disease at his workplace, where three other cases were seen. A Filipino health worker has died in Abu Dhabi and five others were in quarantine last week. The Saudi Ministry of Health said this month that 356 patients and staff had been tested, but of the small number who tested positive all were stable or asymptomatic.
NURSING april No 23 other :: vol uses 28 no 34 :: permission. 2014 13 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 22, 2015. For personal use only. without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
Shape of Caring review aims to improve training By Kat Keogh The quality of nurse training in England will be in the spotlight when a major review of pre and post-registration education is launched next month. The Nursing and Midwifery Council and nurse education and training provider Health Education England (HEE) have teamed up to see how nurse and healthcare assistant training can be improved to boost patient care. The Shape of Caring review comes after concerns about the standard of nurse training were raised in Robert Francis QC’s report on Mid Staffs. A key focus will be the controversial pilot programme where prospective nursing students work as healthcare assistants (HCAs) for a year before embarking on a nursing degree. An HEE spokesperson said the structure of the review will be discussed at a meeting next month, and recommendations are expected to be made in a final report in early 2015.
‘To ensure that our nurses and HCAs receive high quality education and training, which supports high quality patient care, our organisations have partnered to formally establish the Shape of Caring review,’ the spokesperson added. ‘This should produce healthcare professionals of high calibre, who are able to meet the changing needs of patients and the broader population.’ The review will be headed up by Lord Willis of Knaresborough, who led an RCN-commissioned review into nurse education in 2012. The Liberal Democrat peer has criticised the HCA pilot scheme, which was launched last autumn. The 2012 Willis commission made 29 recommendations, including mandatory regulation of HCAs, more placements in the community and dedicated time for mentorship. Click here to read the findings of Lord Willis’ previous education review
Be firm and ask for more says nurse practitioner Nurses attached to GP surgeries should not be afraid to demand more money if they are asked to work weekends, a leading nurse practitioner has said. Jenny Aston’s comments follow prime minister David Cameron’s announcement last week that more than 7.5 million
PRACTICE NURSES HAVE MORE POWER THAN IN THE PAST – Jenny Aston
people in England will be offered more access to their GP surgeries at evenings and weekends, with £50 million funding for 1,147 practices to offer extra services at times convenient for patients.
But Ms Aston, a nurse practitioner in Cambridge and chair of the nursing group of the Royal College of GPs’ General Practice Foundation, said: ‘Advanced practice nurses will probably be expected to do their bit one evening a month. I do not think they would get any more money for that. But if nurses are asked to do weekends, they can be firmer about pay than before because there is a shortage of practice nurses and they have a bit more power than in the past.’ RCN head of policy Howard Catton said that Mr Cameron’s plans for extending access were ‘light on nursing’. He added: ‘They make it feel that doctors are the answer to everything, but really it is about the whole multidisciplinary team, including nurses, not just GPs’
WORLD IN BRIEF Wages dispute Nurses in Kenya are threatening strike action over the non-payment of wages. Staff at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret claim they have not received certain allowances that form part of their total pay. The government has appointed an arbitrator from the Labour Ministry to mediate in the dispute between the Kenya National Union of Nurses and the hospital. Pay disputes have been going on for several months. Earlier this year some nurses were not even given uniforms, said union secretary Seth Panyako. Law change A politician in China has been given a five-month prison sentence for slapping a nurse, with the option of paying a five-month daily fine of £40 instead. Kuomintang Luchu township representative Wang Kui-fen received the sentence at the Taoyuan District Court. Last November, Ms Kui-fen had phoned a hospital to enquire about the condition of her father, being treated there. She was annoyed at the attitude of the nurse who answered the call, went to the hospital and slapped the nurse. As a result of the incident Chinese law has been changed so that anyone who violently obstructs or threatens a health worker could face up to three years in prison. Virus alert A respiratory virus has spread among patients and health workers in parts of the Middle East, with one nurse dying. Bandar Bin Salim Al-Kuthairy, a nurse at King Abdulaziz Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, died of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Relatives said he contracted the disease at his workplace, where three other cases were seen. A Filipino health worker has died in Abu Dhabi and five others were in quarantine last week. The Saudi Ministry of Health said this month that 356 patients and staff had been tested, but of the small number who tested positive all were stable or asymptomatic.
NURSING april No 23 other :: vol uses 28 no 34 :: permission. 2014 13 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 22, 2015. For personal use only. without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
