Deborah Sturdy CBE, Chief Nurse Adult Social Care, Department of Health and Social Care
After one of the longest periods of disruption and uncertainty any of us have experienced in our lifetimes, I hope 2023 will at last see life return to a more normal pace. We need the time and space to think about the future and how we make the most of new opportunities to improve care and support.
2022, though challenging, saw our profession achieve its highest profile in years. As we see the first cohort of social care nurses from the global majority undertake bespoke leadership training, I am delighted we are building a voice for colleagues from minority ethnic backgrounds.
This year, I want the voice of the entire profession to become even louder, even more diverse. If we are not at the table, how can we influence? That’s why we are setting up professional nursing councils in every integrated care system (ICS) in England. We need to offer our care sector insights to clinical nursing leaders, be myth busters and advocate strongly for pragmatic, practical and person-centred solutions.
We need social care nurses and the wider workforce from small and large organisations from large, small and medium sized services – and from across all specialisms – to chair these councils. I can help create opportunities like these, but we need people to fill seats and be voices of professional and creative challenge. Get in touch if you want to be part of this exciting endeavour. It’s a golden CPD opportunity, with the potential to really influence the design and delivery of integrated services.
Meanwhile, we continue to build our research agenda, working with the National Institute of Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) to launch new opportunities for social care nursing, build our evidence base and exercise even greater influence, backed by data.
At the same time, Skills for Care is working toward the launch of the Careers in Social Care platform. I want to build on this initiative and develop resources to help us learn and share best practice around retention and recruitment.
We will also see the results of the work the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) is leading to create standards for social care nursing, including the opportunity for specialist practitioner qualifications (SPQ) to be recordable on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register. I have been working with the NMC on an induction for all members of the ‘fitness to practice’ panel to make sure they understand the context and role of social care nursing, as it is currently made up of nurses from settings other than care. We need more social care nurses active in NMC roles.
More broadly, I want to see the growth and development of advanced social care practice. Our skills, experience and knowledge are exceptional. We must continue to invest in these qualities.
Last year was also about shining a light on sector specialisms. We held a roundtable for learning disability nurses late 2022, hosted by Skills for Care, and I hope this year we will learn more about their work and also of those in less prominent roles, including those working in mental health, drug, alcohol and complex care services.
Critical to the success of everything I’ve mentioned will be the development of the knowledge and skills framework for all professional care staff. As we look to the expansion of delegated healthcare, such frameworks will become even more essential.
2023 must be the year when the experience, knowledge and skill sets of social care colleagues take centre stage. This means being valued by individuals, communities and the health and care professionals we work alongside. In this spirit of mutual respect and collaboration, we will build a better future together.
