IN BRIEF The Nursing and Midwifery Council is seeking a nurse who lives or works in Wales to represent the country on its governing body. The council, the NMC’s board of trustees, meets approximately six times a year. It must include representation from all four UK countries. The deadline for applications is at noon on March 21. Visit tinyurl.com/NMC-council-appointments Palliative care nurse Bridget Johnston has been appointed as the Florence Nightingale Foundation chair in clinical nursing practice research at the University of Glasgow. The appointment is the result of a partnership between the university, the foundation and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. She has been welcomed by all three organisations and will work to translate research directly into improving clinical care. Any nurse who has worked in the criminal justice system can help shape new RCN guidelines on nursing in this sector. The college is looking for nurses who have cared for people who were referred to them from prison, police custody, court, an immigration centre or secure mental health setting. To take part email [email protected] and include ‘Feedback’ in the subject header. A new specialist organ donation nurse at Bradford Royal Infirmary wants to reduce her city’s transplant waiting list. Jenny Hughes is urging everyone to discuss donations with relatives and friends. With 84 people in Bradford needing a transplant, Ms Hughes wants to increase awareness about donating. She said many relatives and friends are ‘unaware’ of a loved one’s wish to donate, adding that ‘one donor can save or transform up to nine lives’. To join the organ donation register, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23. Executive director of nursing and midwifery Gail Naylor is leaving North Cumbria University Hospitals (NCUH) NHS Trust after two years and will be replaced by Maurya Cushlow. Ms Naylor is taking up the same position with Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Ms Cushlow has 30 years’ experience in nursing and takes on the interim role after moving from NHS North Tyneside clinical commissioning group. NCUH chief executive Stephen Eames paid tribute to both women. The RCN is urging peers in the House of Lords to continue to allow union representatives sufficient paid time to carry out their union duties. The government’s Trade Union Bill was debated in parliament last week. The RCN believes that attempts to limit the time union representatives are granted to attend to their union duties will harm productivity and increase staff turnover. The bill will next be debated in the Lords on March 16. NHS Wales has launched a campaign called Water Keeps You Well to tackle dehydration, particularly in older patients. Dehydration can contribute to confusion, falls, pressure ulcers and urine infections. Chief nursing officer for Wales Jean White said: ‘Evidence shows good hydration can help in the management and prevention of many conditions and this campaign aims to ensure people know that drinking water keeps you well.’

TRAINING AID FOR MENTAL CARE STAFF A training pack to help mental health professionals challenge discrimination in health services was launched last week. The pack has been developed in partnership with NHS England by the Time to Change programme, which is run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness. Time to Change points to research in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2013 that shows one in three people still face stigma and discrimination when they use mental health services in England. The training pack is designed to prompt mental health teams to talk openly about how they can improve their culture and practice. Using a film and support materials, the pack encourages staff to consider the impact their behaviour can have on patients. NHS England senior nurse for mental health and learning disabilities Joanne McDonnell said research from the campaign showed that ‘small individual actions’ such as maintaining eye contact or taking a few extra minutes with someone ‘can change an interaction and improve the experience and life of someone with a mental health problem’. Download the pack at tinyurl.com/time-to-change-pack

Lincolnshire nurses trial phone assessment service A nurse-led telephone service is helping patients to have investigative tests on their bowels up to two weeks faster than usual. United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust is piloting a new method of booking colonoscopy tests at Lincoln County Hospital for patients with suspected cancer. Patients are called by a nurse specialist within days of being referred by their GP. The nurse assesses their symptoms and history and recommends the best course of action, which could include booking a colonoscopy straight away. Previously, patients waited up to two weeks for an appointment to be assessed by a specialist in hospital; only after that could tests be booked. Senior colorectal nurse specialist Jocelyn Fitzgerald said patients in Lincolnshire often travel long distances to reach the hospital and under the previous system, they could be turned away and then become frustrated.

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