Modernising Nursing in the Community

Key Messages from the Programme Board

Community nursing is at the heart of the Scottish Government's vision for high quality health care. The Modernising Nursing in the Community (MNiC) programme was established to provide support and direction for community nursing to realise its full potential in providing safe, effective and person-centred care and support to people in Scotland. The work of the two-year programme board finished in December 2011 and the achievements are highlighted here and on our website www.mnic.nes.scot.nhs.uk. We are now moving forward to an action phase which will build on the achievements so far and take on the important challenges now and in the next couple of years.

The Modernising Nursing in the Community interactive website was launched by Michael Matheson, the Minister for Public Health, at an event at Queen Margaret University in January. The event aimed to engage as many people as possible and was streamed live to community nurses in their bases across Scotland.

An online question and answer session followed the formal presentations and the Minister answered questions from community nurses in real time assisted by Karen Wilson, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer and Jane Harris, Programme Manager. The event can be viewed on the website at www.mnic.nes.scot.nhs.uk

The MNiC website is hosted by NHS Education for Scotland and brings together evidence from research, practice and policy for quality improvement in service provision for:

• Children, Young People & Families
• Work & Wellbeing
• Adults & Older People

Regular updates to the website will include material and practice examples which community nurses wish to share with colleagues.

The NHS Board Nurse Directors and their staff developed a vision for community nursing in Scotland. This helped to guide the programme and reaffirm the value and important position of community nursing in the provision of modern health care services.

'Community nursing is at the heart of the NHS in Scotland. Grounded in the present and focused on the future, community nursing drives improvement and innovation, centred on the experience of people and their communities, enabling and influencing partnership working. Community nursing teams are:

• Passionate about providing highly-skilled, evidence-based care, which puts the person, their family and the community at its core
• Proud of their privileged position to develop and maximise the potential and quality of life of all members of our community, particularly the youngest and most vulnerable wherever they live
• Progressive and transformational, but remain committed to caring with compassion and promoting dignity and the best health outcomes for all
• Perfectly placed to protect, safeguard and manage risk, keeping people safe in the places they receive health care
• Partners with the community, ready to build on history and create the future as strong visible, clinical leaders.'

The Modernising Nursing in the Community framework identifies the elements required for safe, effective and person-centred care and support in the community. This has been used to structure the work of the programme and underpins the MNiC website.

The eight Career and Development Frameworks for Community Nursing have been developed in partnership with NHS Education for Scotland by community nursing discipline specific groups.

1. Public health nursing
2. District nursing
3. Nursing in occupational health
4. General practice nursing
5. Community children's nursing
6. Health protection nursing
7. Community learning disabilities nursing
8. Community mental health nursing

The Modernising Nursing in the Community Education Group led by NHS Education for Scotland will continue to support the development of community nursing and public health themes within nursing and midwifery pre-registration programmes, post-registration education for community nursing and education for the wider workforce in line with NHS Board requirements. This group has also overseen the professional and educational elements of the Career and Development Frameworks for community nursing teams. The frameworks are available on the MNiC website in electronic format so that they can be reviewed and revised to keep pace with changes in practice and policy.

The development of three Universal care pathways including pre-conception, children, young people and families (ages 0-5, 5-11, 11-19 years) and a pathway of care for vulnerable families (age 0-3 years) have been led by the sub-group for Children, Young People and Families.

Next steps action plan

Modernising Nursing in the Community will continue to raise the profile of community nursing in Scotland by informing, influencing and supporting relevant programmes of work including:

• Reshaping Care for Older People
• Early Years agenda
• Integration of adult health and social care
• Delivering Quality in Primary Care
• Community nursing workload assessment tools
• Releasing Time to Care in the Community
• Leading Better Care; Delivering for patients

Ros Moore,
Chief Nursing Officer for Scotland

Central to the ongoing success of Modernising Nursing in the Community is ensuring its place as part of a cohesive and comprehensive approach to meeting the care and support needs of children, young people and families, people at work, adults and older people now and in the future. This is reflected in the Chief Nursing Officer for Scotland, Ros Moore's three ambitions for community nursing:

Ambition 1
That TODAY community nursing across all Scotland delivers the best quality, safe, effective and person-centred care every time.

Ambition 2
That TOMORROW we maximise the potential of community nursing channelling resources and energies where it makes the most difference.

Ambition 3
That we secure the future of community nursing in Scotland BEYOND tomorrow by creating a world-class service and world-class practitioners.

For further information about Modernising Nursing in the Community please contact the programme manager jane.harris@scotland.gsi.gov.uk