Nursing 2030 Vision

Scotland’s Chief Nursing Officer has set out her strategy to shape the future of the profession.

Professor Fiona McQueen’s Nursing 2030 Vision sets out what nursing needs to look like by 2030 – capturing what is currently done well and what needs to be done differently to deal with future demands on public services and issues like the ageing population and workforce.

The Vision has been developed following a Scotland-wide engagement exercise involving more than 3,000 current nurses, students and other key stakeholders. Three key themes emerged:

• Personalising care
• Preparing nurses for future needs and roles
• Supporting nurses

Professor McQueen said:

“This is a really exciting piece of work. We asked thousands of people what they think the nursing profession should look like by 2030 and how to deal with the changing demands we face. Their contributions have been crucial and I’d like to personally thank everyone who took part.

“Nurses and student nurses have told us that one of the fundamental attributes of their job is providing compassionate, rights-based care. They want to see nursing develop further as a dynamic profession in all care settings that supports their health and wellbeing, career enhancement and development.

“We want to promote nursing as a rewarding and respected career choice and address issues raised around gender imbalance, career pathways and promoting a range of roles including primary care and the care home sector.

“The Nursing 2030 Vision demonstrates this Government’s commitment to this incredible profession, and together we can ensure that our profession is fit for the future.”

Professor Ian Murray, Head of School of Nursing and Midwifery, Robert Gordon University said:

“The Nursing 2030 Vision establishes an ambitious agenda with a number of clear priorities for developing the nursing workforce and gives clarity and purpose to the direction of travel over the coming decade.”

Professor Angela Wallace, Chair of Scotland’s Executive Nurse Directors said:

"It has been a privilege to be part of the wide engagement of nurses in developing this bold vision, for the future of nursing. The Nursing 2030 Vision and its commitment to deliver will make a real difference as we continue to care for the people of Scotland.

“This is an important day for the future of nursing in Scotland; the Nursing 2030 Vision captures the determination of nurses to listen, develop and evolve to provide the highest quality of safe caring, care now and into the future for those who need us.”

Next Steps

A detailed action plan, with a national oversight, is currently being developed.  The action plan will be the mechanism for setting out how the Scottish Government intends to make the ideas in the Vision a reality over the short, medium and long terms for the people of Scotland and their nurses.

Background

• The Chief Nursing Officer in association with Scotland’s Executive Nurse Directors, RCN Scotland and the Council of Deans undertook to develop a vision for nursing that provides a renewed focus for the profession within the wider context of health and social care in Scotland.
• A consensus event was held on 29^th April 2016 bringing together a wide range of stakeholders including frontline nurses, student nurses and academics to provide an early opportunity for engagement in this work.
• The key drivers for the Vision include the new clinical strategy health and social care integration and workforce challenges going forward.
• This work was carried out in the context of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) Review of Standards for Education which began in late 2016.
• A large scale engagement to develop the Vision was launched on 17^th October 2016 and ran until 9^th December 2016. The ‘launch week’ consisted of a series of themed videos being promoted by the CNO via Twitter in order to encourage people to take part.
• The Nursing 2030 Vision document is available here.