Deborah Sturdy, Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care, addresses the key challenges facing social care nursing and highlights strategies to strengthen resilience and support workforce growth and retention.
There is no doubt we face huge challenges across public services, including health and social care. The question is what is our individual responsibility to address them and what can we do to support ourselves and each other at this time? How can we draw on the resources available to build and maintain our energy to sustain us throughout these lean times?
Coming together has never been more important, and building our resilience is critical in maintaining ourselves as leaders. The Foundation of Nursing Studies is running the Resilience Based Clinical Supervision programme, an online initiative for all nurses working in social care. This programme offers an opportunity to learn techniques which can help in practice. It is free and is proving to be invaluable, according to participant evaluations to date. The programme counts towards your Continuing Professional Development, (CPD), creates a network, and equips you with skills and techniques you can use every day as a leader and care giver to support both yourself and your team.
Skills for Care offers a range of forums, including the Manager’s network, which provides peers with up-to-date information and a place to meet and share. There are two new networks being launched in 2025. A forum for HEI providers seeking placements in social care, which needs provider members to build much needed capacity and opportunities for undergraduate nurse students. The second opportunity is the social care nursing workforce forum, it needs members like you to join and share ideas about retention, value, innovation, and debate. These forums offer a chance to meet new people, make connections, share knowledge and be part of the solution. Building our specialism has never been in such a positive and well recognised space, and we need to push forward our agenda.
In early February we are holding a roundtable to discuss undergraduate placements for every student nurse in social care. We need to expose our students to gain insight and experience in nurse led services and encourage our future peers to join us. By offering preceptorships to graduates as they look for their first jobs, we can support them to flourish as new nurses and retain them within the specialism of social care nursing.
It is essential to seek opportunities for online CPD. The Royal College of Nursing, (RCN), Queens Nursing Institute, (QNI) and other organisations offer invaluable resources. The QNI has been a critical partner in the Infection Control Champions and Care Home Nurses networks, and in 2025 we will see them continue to pull social care nursing into the community nursing family. Any nurse who meets the criteria can apply to become a Queen’s Nurse. This prestigious acknowledgement is a much coveted recognition of expertise in practice. I have been delighted to see increasing numbers of colleagues applying and being recognised for their skill and expertise.
The Social Care Nursing Advisory Councils (SCNACs) set up to align with Integrated Care Board and NHS England professional nursing agendas and ensure the voice of social care nursing is included and heard, has never been more needed. As diminishing resources affect us all, using what we have to best effect and for the greatest impact is at the forefront of everyone’s minds. I hope we can find support for an event this year to shine the light again on social care nursing, celebrate all the incredible work being done and the impact on the lives of people we care for. Please join the SCNACs and use the meetings to participate, share views, help shape our specialism and shape local relationships and partnerships.
The RCN Regional leads for the Independent Sector run a range of online events which offer free CPD for nurses in social care. Accessing these resources and clinical updates can be useful. Some Integrated Care Systems have invested in learning opportunities for sector colleagues, and I urge you to explore what your local NHS providers may offer to support learning.
We continue to work with the Higher Education Institute, NHS and National Institute for Health and Care Research colleagues to build a social care nursing research portfolio and exploring opportunities through the CRED Talk series – a free, online lecture series focused on research.
“We can’t always do what we have always done to get us where we need to be” has long been a mantra of mine. Once again, we must be adaptive, creative and agile in how we do things. Find what is free and grab it with both hands to push through the hard times with optimism. I think the old adage stands: “when the going gets tough the tough get going.” Social care nurses are the best of the profession in being creative, solution focused and positive. I am proud to be a social care nurse, and I know you are too. Despite the challenges of 2025, we have opportunities to make use of available resources and build on the incredible work in establishing our specialism.
@sturdy_deborah
