Perhaps you took the opportunity earlier in the year to respond to the Nursing and Midwifery Council's (NMC) consultation on draft strategic themes to support them to be a better regulator. The general public were also consulted on the five themes, which were:
If you want to find out more, visit the NMC website (https://tinyurl.com/y2f3t3na).
Both the profession and the public agreed there was a need for nurses, midwives and nursing associates to have the time and opportunity to deliver good care, not just to police standards but help improve them promote a better appreciation of what they do, to act with kindness, and to consider new ways of delivering care.
I must confess that this rather resonated with what people have been saying to me at the recent Wound Expo in September and at the Wound Care Alliance UK (WCAUK) conference in Doncaster in October. I have heard your reports, stories and reflections about time and the lack of it for care, and how you feel that standards are sometimes imposed without due consideration to how you will manage the demands put on you. I also hear amazing stories about how you have made real achievements in wound care by focusing on getting it right first time (GIRFT). GIRFT is an NHS Improvement initiative that focuses on improving quality by reducing unwarranted variances (https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/).
I was particularly heartened by a nurse at the WCAUK conference who reported to me her great results in reducing the number of patients who had skin tears in her nursing home and the nurse who attended a previous WCAUK conference in Worcester and has helped staff with their wound assessment skills and then tracked all the patients to ensure they are responding to their treatments within a 30-day period before seeking specialist advice.
This prompted me to think of the commitment that nurses show, sometimes in adversity, of delivering high-quality care. The forthcoming BJN Awards in which the WCAUK is supporting the Wound Care Nurse of the Year award, are a showcase for nursing excellence, and highlight the critical contribution that nurses make to healthcare. It has been my great pleasure to attend the awards and see the recognition that hard work and dedication so richly deserves. Next year's awards are on Friday 20 March 2020 at Shakespeare's Underglobe in London and nominations are currently open. Further details are available on the website (https://www.bjnawards.co.uk/).
As my thoughts have turned to 2020, it is also worth making a note of some conference dates:
Back to this year, it is Stop Pressure Ulcer Day on 21 November 2019. There are several ways that you can get involved, including by:
Go to: http://www.epuap.org/stop-pressure-ulcers/ for further information.
The delivery of evidence-based care and maintaining and demonstrating quality are important aspects of nursing. Having time to care is dependent on many things, but adopting best practices and getting it right first time are crucial for us to achieve what the public wanted from the NMC—the time and opportunity to deliver good care.
Finally, as this is the last Tissue Viability Supplement this year, I wish you all the best for the festive season and a healthy New Year. Let's hope it will be a good one for nursing, because that means it will be a good one for patients.