QNINEWS

Winter 2013

3/ Opening Doors new guidance4/Record numbers of QNs at Autumn Awards Ceremony5/ A QN perspective on the ‘District Nursing Vision’7/ City of London Choir concert update7/ Calling all Galanthophiles

3/New nurse-led projects funded

Awards ceremonyQN columnFFI columnconcertNGS feature Burdett receptionMedicine Mgmt EventFFI workshop Crystal CGC positionInstitute of HV

Following consultation with our Queen’s Nurses and other stakeholders, we submitted a response to Jane Cummings’ and Viv Bennett’s national nursing strategy last November and were pleased to see the final product (‘Compassion in Practice’) stressed the importance of ensuring the right staff with the rights skills are in the right place, just as our own ‘Right Nurse, Rights Skills’ campaign urges.

We continue to work closely with the Department of Health on several pieces of work around community nursing and have seen some outputs already including the publication of the District Nursing Vision in December 2012.

Similarly the work on dementia we have been involved with, is drawing to a close and we expect to see a pathway and accompanying guidance documents around that shortly.

Late last year saw the publication of the Willis report and in the wake of the findings about education and training for community nurses; this is an area we will be exploring further in the coming months.

The findings of the Francis Report which came out on 6th February reflects the principal and longheld concerns of the QNI. We responded to the report with a press release detailing our thoughts on how this could translate into the community. Crystal Oldman, our Chief Executive commented, ‘If the NHS is to keep the public’s trust it has to invest in a properly skilled and well-led nursing workforce, supported by regulated healthcare assistants, trained to deliver care that we want for our loved ones and ourselves.’

‘The Francis Report is probably the most significant report to have been published with clear recommendations for UK nursing for several decades.Many of the issues included in the recommendations resonate with the QNI ‘Right Nurse Right Skills’ campaign which we have been promoting for the last two

years. We have been arguing for a skilled workforce to deliver nursing care in the home and a complete and urgent reversal of the decrease in specialist community practitioner training for District Nursing. We are currently gathering data on the number of District Nurses undertaking training this academic year (2012/13) and we will be utilising that data to continue to lobby for an increase in the specialist workforce – to provide the skilled and experienced leadership of nursing teams identified by Francis in his report.Our campaign also included the regulation of Health Care Assistants – another of Francis’ recommendations, albeit from the perspective of hospital based care. In the community, HCAs are at their least visible and their least directly supervised by a nurse, which gives even more weight to the need for appropriate preparation and education for the role. Health Care Assistants provide essential nursing care within the nursing team, without which we would not be able to function; they deserve to have a clear career pathway, support for skills development, a code of conduct they can sign up to and professional regulation. Most importantly, our patients being nursed in their homes deserve to be cared for by a regulated workforce who will deliver nothing less than excellent nursing care.I welcome the recommendations of the Francis report. I remain deeply saddened however by the reasons Robert Francis came to be writing it.’

Crystal Oldman, Chief Executive

From the Chief Executive News & Upcoming Events

2/ QNI NEWS Winter 2013

Policy update

QNI NEWS Winter 2013 3/

Opening Doors publishes final Impact Report

New nurse-led projects funded

The Opening Doors project has recently published its final Impact Report. The project, which ran for two years, 2011-2012, was created to improve the quality of support for homeless people and homeless families, especially those affected by substance misuse. This benefitted homeless people across England by providing nurses and health professionals with guidance, information and traininng surrounding the various health issues related to drugs and alcohol addiction.

We will be seeking funding for a new project building on the work done by Opening Doors, supporting the development of nursing care for the homeless in our communities and in doing so making a sustainable difference to the health of the most vulnerable members of our society.

To read the Impact Report, please go to www.qni.org.uk/docs/QNI_2011_impact_report.pdf. To read more about the Opening Doors project and see the available (free) resources, please go to www.qni.org.uk/for_nurses/opening_doors.

As of January 2013, we have ten new nurse-led projects that we will be supporting during 2013. Our Fund for Innovation and Leadership brings together a group of nurses each year from different regions and specialties. The year-long programme aims to test new ideas and improve care delivered by nurses, allied health professionals and their teams in the community. Each project benefits from funding of up to £5000 and the project leaders participate in a series of professional development workshops throughout the year.

The first two-day workshop, establishing measurable goals for each project, has just concluded. Two more workshops take place during the year and the QNI also makes on-site visits to each project.

The projects this year include those that deal with setting up services for earlier detection of dementia; a texting and emailing service for 11-16 year olds; a programme of support for anorexics; abdominal massage for children with learning disabilities suffering from constipation; managing exam stress for students in year 10; health promotion clinic for women in mental health crisis; a women-only walking group for cardiac rehab patients; a health resource for Gypsy and Traveller communities; outreach clinic for asslyum seekers; and improving care for lymphoedema patients.

The nurses who are leading the projects range from school nurses and community cardiac rehab nurses to mental health nurses and children’s disability nurses.

Crystal Oldman, Chief Executive of the QNI said, ‘The ten projects this year show the amazing diversity and complexity of care being delivered by today’s community nurses. We will be publicising the results of the projects when they are concluded, to share knowledge and experience more widely and to promote the sharing of best practice.’

For a full list of the projects please go to www.qni.org.uk/for_nurses/project_funding/funded_projects.

The new cohort of FFI leaders at the first workshop of the year

Autumn 2012 Awards Ceremony

4/ QNI NEWS Winter 2013

The QNI’s Autumn Awards Ceremony took place at the Commonwealth Club in London on Monday 12 November.

At the event, 62 new Queen’s Nurses received their badges and certificates, bringing the total number of QNs to over 300. The event was hosted by Kate Billingham CBE, QNI Chair of Council, and by Crystal Oldman, Chief Executive.

Crystal Oldman commented, ‘The Queen’s Nurse title is not an end in itself, but the beginning of a process of practice improvement, leadership and growth. Receiving the title is both an achievement and a responsibility. Nurses in the community today work in a very different world to that of the original Queen’s Nurses. They have greater

freedom to assess, diagnose, treat and prescribe for patients, than the original Queen’s Nurses could ever have imagined. But with these opportunities come new challenges. Community nurses have always taken on the most of difficult tasks in the most varied of settings, and I have every confidence that our newest Queen’s Nurses will rise to the new challenges that they meet.’ Five new Fellows of the

Institute were also welcomed.

Kate Billingham thanked all those who attended, and commented, ‘It is good to be reminded of the dedication, the passion and the skills of our profession, represented here tonight by our Fellows and our new Queen’s Nurses.’

She also thanked The National Gardens Scheme and its chief executive, George Plumptre, for their support, adding, ‘This year was the QNI’s 125th anniversary, and NGS’ 85th anniversary, and we are delighted to celebrate our long partnership. NGS’ generous support enables us to make a difference to patient care, through the nurses we work with – so thank you to NGS, and to everyone who visits an NGS garden to help them raise funds for charity.’

The 62 new Queen’s Nurses

Chair Kate Billingham congraulating a new QN Trustees and guests mingle

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Queen’s Nurse IN ACTION QN Annual Meeting

QN submissions

The Maureen Acland Bursary

A Queen’s Nurse’s Perspective on Development of the District Nursing Vision

Last summer a group of specially invited District Nurses, from a broad background, were tasked by the Department of Health, NHS Commissioning Board and their strategic partners the Queen’s Nursing Institute to develop the new national vision and model for District Nursing. The vision is a resource aimed at commissioners and providers to plan and design community services. The profile of District Nursing needed to be raised and we needed to attract the right calibre of nurse into the speciality to develop the leadership capability in the future. The uniqueness of the specialism has been the victim of erosion over many years by other areas of specialism, a lack of investment in training of specialist practitioners, difficulties in recruitment and the poor portrayal of the profession by the media.

This, therefore, was a welcome opportunity to highlight and celebrate the unique contribution that District Nurses bring to the larger Primary Health Care Team and the populations they serve.

As a community Matron and Queen’s Nurse it is a rare opportunity that I have to directly influence national policy so I accepted with a great deal of excitement and some trepidation, which proved unfounded.

To think strategically is a challenge for clinically focussed nurses but along with business acumen it is a key skill that all nurses need to develop in the future. The collaboration with other nurses in the group was key to enable a creative dialogue. The discussion as a group was a powerful tool and it could potentially positively alter the DH and Commissioning boards direction to fully encompass and value district nursing contribution. I gained a lot of valuable insights through active listening of other people’s perspectives on critical and complex issues involved in community care. Developing national strategy it is not without challenges. Even getting consensus with other District Nurses about what we do is tricky. Our roles are now very diverse, with different titles and ways of working at a local level. Also we were informed by the Ministerial team that there would be “no money” attached to the new model, we had to therefore strategically plan using existing resources to develop the vision and new model of working using integrated care.

The vision is available to download and use in practice from the following link:

https://www.wp.dh.gov.uk/publications/files/2013/01/vision-district-nursing-04012013.pdf

The District Nursing Modernisation Group continues to meet monthly in London and new work streams for implementation of the vision are emerging, linking in with National work on Compassion in Practice principles, further work on dementia care, and the new carer’s strategy. A webinar is also planned to link in with Health Education England to look at how specialist practice can be supported and flourish in the future.’

Liz Stark, Community Matron and Queen’s Nurse

This year’s All QN meeting will be held on Saturday 11th May in Manchester. We can offer QNs up to £50 reimbursement for travel expenses.The programme will include sessions on the new QNI strategy, commissioning from a community nurse perspective and education for community nurses. There will also be the opportunity for QNs to contribute and to share examples of their own work. Speaker information to follow shortly.There are only 120 places available so book early to avoid disappointment. To book your place please contact Farida on 020 7549 1407 or at farida.barlas@qni.org.uk.

This is a reminder to all Queen’s Nurses about our educational bursary. The amount available per individual is up to £500. Funding can be used towards part or total funding of a course, study programme or other learning experience. The Bursary has been used towards various projects including: fees towards a doctorate in Healthcare; a Masters degree in research and research methodology; attending a children’s health conference etc. For any enquiries, please email anne.pearson@qni.org.uk or call 020 7549 1407.

The title of Queen’s Nurse (QN) is open to individual nurses who want to demonstrate their commitment to patient-centred values and continually improving practice. To find about more about becoming a Queen’s Nurse please go to www.qni.org.uk/for_nurses/queens_nurses. The next deadline for submission is 1 March 2013. If you have any queries about your application please contact Farida Barlas at queensnurse@qni.org.uk.

Community nursing profes-sor visits from Philippines

Projects IN ACTION

Case Profile for JIGSAW (A Programme for parents of children who have a learning disability) Naomi Tucker, community nurse - Learning disability team

Jenny is a 5 year old girl who lives with her parents Suzanne and James and her younger brother George. Jenny has severe learning disabilities, epilepsy, and communication difficulties (amongst other health related issues) as a result of having a rare congenital chromosome disorder. She communicates using gesture, some makaton words and a range of about 5 verbal words and sounds.

Her parents had recently been referred to JIGSAW as Jenny’s behaviour had become increasingly difficult to manage.

At the meeting, Suzanne met another parent with a child with a learning disability who also lived in the same village. Both parents described feeling isolated, and felt there was a lack of a support network for parents of children who have a learning disability generally. They found that they could offer each other support outside of JIGSAW and decided to stay in touch with each other after JIGSAW had finished.

Suzanne had recently been in hospital, so she understood the importance of parents looking after themselves. The course reinforced the importance of maintaining her own mental and physical health and how this in turn helps her family.

Part of the course included understanding why a child who has a learning disability may be behaving in a certain way. There was also a specific session on looking at behaviour strategies for children who have a learning disability and there were strategies discussed in every session relating to the session topic.

Suzanne felt the JIGSAW sessions gave her the underpinning knowledge of why it was important to understand the behaviour before strategies were implemented. Suzanne also said that she felt empowered to choose which she thought might be the best strategies to implement.

Suzanne reported an increase in her understanding of Jenny’s learning disability and additional needs. She said she found the programme as a whole very useful and now has additional strategies to add to her parenting toolkit she can use not only for Jenny but also for her son.

Jenny is now due to be discharged from the CAMHS team as her parents feel better equipped to independently deal with the challenges they face around dealing with her behaviour.

6/ QNI NEWS Winter 2013

We will be hosting a visit from Professor of Community Nursing, Josefina Tuazon, from the University of the Philippines in Manila. Professor Tuazon has recently received funding from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to explore research partnerships in the UK for community nursing. The FCO application was supported by the CE in her previous role and the visit is also being supported by the Institute of Diversity Research at Buckinghamshire New University and Oxford University’s Institute of Gender Studies. A week long programme in February will include two days of visits to two Queen’s Nurses in practice. We will report back after Professor Tuazon’s visit.

Financial assistance for nurses

The QNI offers financial and personal assistance to nurses in need. We will consider applications from registered nurses who work or have worked in the community for a minimum of three years. We also will consider applications from Health Care Assistants who work or have worked in community nursing settings for a minimum of 5 years under the supervision of a registered nurse. In 2012 we helped 98 nurses in financial need, whose ages ranged from 30 to well beyond retirement. Here are a few examples of the ways in which we have helped:-Contributing towards a new wheelchair for a disabled community midwife.- A one- off payment to enable a victim of domestic abuse to put a deposit down on a new home.-Helping an isolated elderly Queen’s Nurse with car running costs.

For more information and to see how to apply please go to www.qni.org.uk/for_nurses/financial_and_personal_assistance or contact Joanne Moorby on 0207 549 1405, or email joanne.moorby@qni.org.uk .

City of London Choir Concert

NGS Snowdrop Opening Gardens 2013

Supporting US

DonateAs a small charity, we rely on donations of all sizes to continue our work. We would like to thank all our supporters for their support.

We were very lucky to have been chosen by the City of London Choir as their official beneficiary charity for their autumn concert this year.

The concert was held at the Barbican Concert Hall in London on Monday 26 November and featured a British programme of music including, W a l t o n ’ s Henry V Suite, Butterworth’s A

Shropshire Lad Rhapsody, Parry’s the Chivalry of the Sea, Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and Elgar’s The Spirit of England.

With sales of tickets and a bucket collection on the night, we raised over £5000.

Thank you very much to the City of London Choir and Rathbone Bros, as well as all our wonderful supporters. With your help, we can continue to improve nursing at home. If you would like to raise funds for the QNI please go to www.qni.org.uk/support_us/raise_funds_for_the_qni or contact joanna.sagnella@qni.org.uk

QNI staff and trustees at the Barbican

They say that when the first snowdrops start to appear you know that winter is coming to an end. NGS, the QNI’s biggest supporter, and a charity which opens gardens of quality, character and interest to the public for charity, has a huge choice of gardens opened specifically to see seasonal snowdrops. For more

information or to find one close to where you live, go to www. ngs.org.uk/news-features/features/snowdrop-garden-

openings.aspx

The NGS’ primary charitable purpose is to support nursing and caring, so by visiting one of their

gardens you are also supporting the QNI.

For more information on NGS please go

QNI NEWS Winter 2013 7/

Recycle for the QNIYou can raise funds for The Queen’s Nursing Institute by recycling old mobile phones, inkjet cartridges and laser/toner cartridges with Recycle4Char-ity.The QNI will receive 50% of the recycling value for any mo-bile phones, £1 for each original empty inkjet cartridge or up to £5 per empty laser/toner cartridge donated kindly by you, friends, family or colleagues.

To recycle your items for free and raise funds for this great cause simply click on this link Recycle 4 The Queen’s Nursing Institute. Alternatively, please contact Sheena Frempong. Fun-draiser, for Recycle4Charity free-post bags, on 020 7549 1422, or at sheena.frempong@qni.org.uk

Replace your web browser with EveryclickYou can raise money for the QNI at no cost to yourself simply by using Everyclick as your web browser and selecting the Queen’s Nursing Institute as your beneficiary charity.

Everyclick gives 50% of its gross revenues to charity each month. Set www.everyclick.com as your default internet search engine and select the QNI as your charity.

Gifts in WillsWe recently received a legacy of £1000. Gifts in Wills or legacies play a vital role in enabling the QNI to improve the nursing care people receive in the home and community.

to www.ngs.org.uk.

QNI NEWS Autumn 2012 8/

Caption Competition

addresses … they’re called Sat Nav’s. How exciting.’

Margaret will receive a set of our six Get Well Soon cartoon note-cards (available from the QNI shop).

‘Have you heard, there may be new technology on the way to help us finding addresses … they’re called Sat Nav’s. How exciting.’

‘Like us’ on Facebookwww.facebook.com/pages/The-Queens-Nurs-ing-Institute/44646601406 Follow us on Twitter @TheQNI to stay up-to-

date with all the latest QNI news.Follow our BlogTo read the latest views on what’s happening out thereaffecting community nurses, see the link on our home page or go to: http://blog.qni.org.uk/

If you have moved employer and your email address has changed, please email mail@qni.org.uk with the correct email address.

Also, be sure to add the QNI to your “safe senders list”, to make sure our emails skip your junk folder and make it to your inbox!

Email address changed?

What would your caption be for the photograph to the left? Please email your entry to joanna.sagnella@qni.org.uk or write to Joanna Sagnella, QNI, 3 Albemarle Way, London EC1V 4RQ. The winner will have his or her caption featured in the next QNI newsletter and will win a prize. We look forward to hearing from you! The Autumn issue caption competition winner is Margaret Swindlehurst from the Isle of Man with, ‘Have you heard, there may be new technology on the way to help us finding

QNI News as it happens - online

QNI shop - SALE!Our QNI early winter sale is on!

Everything is discounted including our 2013 Wall Calendar featuring vintage ads from our archive

of nursing magazines going back to 1900 - now £2.99 only!

Please see www.qni.org.uk/shop/q n i _ b r a n d e d _goods for more fabulous offers!

By buying any of our items you are helping us to raise vital funds to improve patient care in the community.

For more information or to purchase the calendar, please go to www.qni.org.uk/shop

or send a cheque for £5.99 + £1.99 postage, addressed to the Queen’s Nursing Institute. Please note we cannot take payment over the phone.