NEWS
EMPLOYERS WARNED THEY MUST SUPPORT NURSES TO MEET REVALIDATION DEMANDS Nurses need enough time – and the backing of their employers – to fulfil new revalidation requirements, the RCN has warned. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is on track to introduce revalidation, a three-yearly check that a nurse remains fit to practise, in December 2015.
‘EMPLOYERS WILL HAVE TO ALLOW STAFF TIME FOR CPD’ – Howard Catton
It will replace the current method of post-registration education and practice (PREP), which has been criticised for being outdated. A key change proposed by the NMC, set out in the second phase of its consultation on revalidation published last week, is to increase the number of continuing professional development (CPD) hours from 35 to
40. At least half of these hours would have to be spent in ‘participatory learning’, such as training courses, mentoring and colleague shadowing. The consultation follows a Nursing Standard survey that revealed serious concerns among nurses over how much time they have to compile evidence that their skills are up to date. Workplace pressures are currently forcing thousands of nurses to complete PREP in their own time. Our survey of 10,000 nurses in April showed that 86 per cent were completing PREP work at home. One in ten was having to pay for courses and conferences out of their own pocket, while just 3 per cent said their employer was making arrangements for staff in preparation for revalidation. RCN head of policy Howard Catton said employers would have to ‘play their part’ in giving nurses time to attend courses and conferences to make up the proposed number of CPD hours.
#WENURSES FORUM FOUNDER ASKS NMC TO RETHINK CODE
A nurse who set up a Twitter forum has called on the NMC to delete part of a new clause on social media in its draft revised code of conduct. Teresa Chinn, founder of #WeNurses, told Nursing Standard the regulator should not forbid nurses from referring to ‘employers, colleagues or past or current people you have cared for’. ‘This is ridiculous,’ said Ms Chinn. ‘If you are a nurse offline, you are a nurse online, so the rest of the code, which says you have to respect confidentiality and behave professionally would still apply. ‘There are a lot of nurses who do refer to their employers on social media, as I do,’ she added. ‘This clause is far too prescriptive.’ She added that @WeNurses, which has 18,000 followers, allows nurses to discuss issues, share experiences and give each other support, but the new clause could threaten its future.
Confront bad practice immediately, managers told Ward managers are not tackling poor performance when it arises because they wrongly believe they cannot act without a formal human resources action plan, a conference heard. Nicola Ranger, director of nursing, quality and patient services at Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey, raised the problem at a conference on revalidation and appraisals. ‘Nurses are either being performance managed or they get no feedback,’ she told the audience of senior nurses at the HealthCare Conferences UK event. ‘If you see something that is not right, say it there and then.’ She contrasted her experience in UK hospitals with time spent working in the United States, where she received daily feedback on her care, and her manager provided a detailed appraisal including examples of what she had done well. 8 may 28 :: vol 28 no 39 :: 2014
Ali Richards, director of GTR Coaching, which works with staff in leadership positions, said: ‘People seem to think appraisals are an exercise they do once or twice a year and nothing in between.’ Ms Richards, who has worked as a staff nurse, added: ‘I have often been appraised and it was never about what
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT IS NOT RIGHT, SAY IT THERE AND THEN I wanted from the manager. It should not be a top-down process or for one person to just ask questions. It should be a free-flowing conversation.’ Appraisals will form a key part of the new revalidation system, which will replace post-registration education and practice (PREP) in December 2015. The Nursing and Midwifery Council
(NMC) is consulting on its revalidation model, under which nurses will need to demonstrate their fitness to practise, and so be able to remain on its register every three years. Speaking earlier at the event, NMC chief executive Jackie Smith said she was concerned that revalidation was being confused with managing performance. ‘Revalidation is about reflecting on the standards within the code of conduct. Revalidation does not replace local clinical governance. ‘I suspect one of the concerns among senior nurses is the issue of confirming someone’s fitness to practise,’ added Ms Smith. ‘A nurse director may worry [that someone they confirm as fit to practise then goes on to] do something horrific. But revalidation is not a mechanism for rooting out bad apples, because that should have been done already.’
NURSING STANDARD
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EMPLOYERS WARNED THEY MUST SUPPORT NURSES TO MEET REVALIDATION DEMANDS Nurses need enough time – and the backing of their employers – to fulfil new revalidation requirements, the RCN has warned. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is on track to introduce revalidation, a three-yearly check that a nurse remains fit to practise, in December 2015.
‘EMPLOYERS WILL HAVE TO ALLOW STAFF TIME FOR CPD’ – Howard Catton
It will replace the current method of post-registration education and practice (PREP), which has been criticised for being outdated. A key change proposed by the NMC, set out in the second phase of its consultation on revalidation published last week, is to increase the number of continuing professional development (CPD) hours from 35 to
40. At least half of these hours would have to be spent in ‘participatory learning’, such as training courses, mentoring and colleague shadowing. The consultation follows a Nursing Standard survey that revealed serious concerns among nurses over how much time they have to compile evidence that their skills are up to date. Workplace pressures are currently forcing thousands of nurses to complete PREP in their own time. Our survey of 10,000 nurses in April showed that 86 per cent were completing PREP work at home. One in ten was having to pay for courses and conferences out of their own pocket, while just 3 per cent said their employer was making arrangements for staff in preparation for revalidation. RCN head of policy Howard Catton said employers would have to ‘play their part’ in giving nurses time to attend courses and conferences to make up the proposed number of CPD hours.
#WENURSES FORUM FOUNDER ASKS NMC TO RETHINK CODE
A nurse who set up a Twitter forum has called on the NMC to delete part of a new clause on social media in its draft revised code of conduct. Teresa Chinn, founder of #WeNurses, told Nursing Standard the regulator should not forbid nurses from referring to ‘employers, colleagues or past or current people you have cared for’. ‘This is ridiculous,’ said Ms Chinn. ‘If you are a nurse offline, you are a nurse online, so the rest of the code, which says you have to respect confidentiality and behave professionally would still apply. ‘There are a lot of nurses who do refer to their employers on social media, as I do,’ she added. ‘This clause is far too prescriptive.’ She added that @WeNurses, which has 18,000 followers, allows nurses to discuss issues, share experiences and give each other support, but the new clause could threaten its future.
Confront bad practice immediately, managers told Ward managers are not tackling poor performance when it arises because they wrongly believe they cannot act without a formal human resources action plan, a conference heard. Nicola Ranger, director of nursing, quality and patient services at Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey, raised the problem at a conference on revalidation and appraisals. ‘Nurses are either being performance managed or they get no feedback,’ she told the audience of senior nurses at the HealthCare Conferences UK event. ‘If you see something that is not right, say it there and then.’ She contrasted her experience in UK hospitals with time spent working in the United States, where she received daily feedback on her care, and her manager provided a detailed appraisal including examples of what she had done well. 8 may 28 :: vol 28 no 39 :: 2014
Ali Richards, director of GTR Coaching, which works with staff in leadership positions, said: ‘People seem to think appraisals are an exercise they do once or twice a year and nothing in between.’ Ms Richards, who has worked as a staff nurse, added: ‘I have often been appraised and it was never about what
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT IS NOT RIGHT, SAY IT THERE AND THEN I wanted from the manager. It should not be a top-down process or for one person to just ask questions. It should be a free-flowing conversation.’ Appraisals will form a key part of the new revalidation system, which will replace post-registration education and practice (PREP) in December 2015. The Nursing and Midwifery Council
(NMC) is consulting on its revalidation model, under which nurses will need to demonstrate their fitness to practise, and so be able to remain on its register every three years. Speaking earlier at the event, NMC chief executive Jackie Smith said she was concerned that revalidation was being confused with managing performance. ‘Revalidation is about reflecting on the standards within the code of conduct. Revalidation does not replace local clinical governance. ‘I suspect one of the concerns among senior nurses is the issue of confirming someone’s fitness to practise,’ added Ms Smith. ‘A nurse director may worry [that someone they confirm as fit to practise then goes on to] do something horrific. But revalidation is not a mechanism for rooting out bad apples, because that should have been done already.’
NURSING STANDARD
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