Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce: June 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Lesley Sharkey – Director of Midwifery
• Jaki Lambert – RCM
• Eileen McKenna – RCN
• Claire Pearce – SEND
• Professor Patricia Findlay – Scottish Centre for Employment Research
• Gavin Fergie– Unite
• Karen Wilson – NES
• Serena Barnett – HR, NSS
• Professor James Buchan - University of Edinburgh
• June Brown – SEND
• Professor Susan Dawkes - Council of Deans Health
• Gillian Russell – Director of Health Workforce
• Anne Armstrong – Interim Chief Nursing Officer
• Justine Craig – Chief Midwifery Officer
• Rachael Dunk – CNOD
• Isabella de Wit – Health Workforce
• Beverley Lamont – Health Workforce
• Jess Dickson – CNOD
• Alison Carmichael - Health Workforce
• Kirsty Merriman – Health Workforce
• Annemieke Bikker - Health Workforce
• Laura Whitelaw - Health Workforce

Apologies

• Colin Poolman – RCN
• Matt McLaughlin - Unison
• Wilma Brown – Unison
• Gillian McCannon – Chair, NHS Western Isles
• Sam Foster - NMC
• Anne Campbell - Vice Principal Ayrshire College
• Fiona Hogg - Chief People Officer
• Liz Airns - GMB
• Professor Aisha Holloway - Chair of Nursing Studies

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions – Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

Mr Gray welcomed everyone to the fifth meeting of the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce and thanked everyone for their attendance. Mr Gray thanked subgroups for developing at pace and is pleased that final recommended actions are in the process of being agreed, understanding the complexity of the work.

At the last meeting, members highlighted it would be beneficial to understand the emerging recommended actions to see links, interdependencies and gaps. Mr Gray confirmed he was pleased to see the paper outlining the recommended actions for discussion, however highlighting that this is a first iteration as subgroups are still agreeing final recommended actions.

Review outstanding actions - Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

Mr Gray noted that the minutes from the previous meeting 13 March 2024 were circulated to members and any comments received were incorporated. A final version was shared ahead of this meeting. Mr Gray asked members if the minutes reflected a true and accurate record of the meeting. Members agreed to the final version of the minutes.

Mr Gray then handed over to Beverley Lamont, to provide an update on the outstanding actions:

Action one: To understand what exit data is gathered at board level.

Update: Scottish Government colleagues have contacted some health boards to understand the exit questionnaire process and the data collected. Colleagues noted that the data doesn’t give the whole picture as the questionnaire is optional.  It is also lengthy and potentially off putting. Beverley highlighted this could be a potential recommended action for the NMT to consider.

Action two: Listening Project issues log to be shared with NMT members.

Update: Colleagues are undertaking final data analysis on the data gathered through the Listening Project. We had a great response and in total we have engaged with over 4000 nursing and midwifery staff members including students and academic staff. The analysis will be shared with members soon, the analysis will break down the responses by profession, banding and years qualified.  

Action three: Advice to be provided to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care on options for highlighting nursing and midwifery careers to try to increase future applications to the undergraduate programme.

Update: At the last meeting members discussed the importance of raising awareness of the professions to increase applications to the undergraduate courses. There is a lot of work on going between NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to amplify messaging, develop case studies and update imagery to give consistency across the piece. The NHS Scotland careers website - Explore careers | NHSScotland Careers is being updated with job profiles that will aim to show the breadth of nurses and midwifery roles. The website is also being made more user friendly.

Beverley also advised there is a huge amount of work underway between health boards and local Developing Young Workforce (DYW) teams. This includes visiting school career fairs and offering dedicated events within a health board setting and relaunching Future Nurse under a new name of Generation NHS. There are several examples of good practice that are being shared between boards to encourage consistency across all health board areas. Beverley advised that due to the current financial challenges being faced, it would not be possible fora full-scale national marketing campaign in the short term. However, this is likely to still be a recommended action from the NMT. Instead, a smaller budget is available which will be used to strengthen the ongoing targeted work with priority groups to highlight nursing and midwifery careers and improve the infrastructure in preparation for a marketing campaign.

Members discussed the renaming of Future Nurse to Generation NHS, agreeing that the name may not encompass the overall focus across health and social care roles. Post meeting note – following feedback from the NMT and other stakeholders, the name “Generation NHS” will be changed and discussions are ongoing to ensure the programme name reflects health and care roles. There was some disappointment noted that there would not be a national campaign however members agreed that any work taken forward has to have an evidence base to show it is effective in the current fiscal environment.

Members commented that the aim of this Taskforce is long term sustainability and to achieve this both nursing and midwifery need to be considered equally, as well as ensuring that the workforce reflects the population.

Mr Gray noted the importance of not missing an opportunity in supporting the promotion of the professions and recognised the need to have continued focus on both nursing and midwifery as professions.

NMT Report structure - Anne Armstrong, Annemieke Bikker and Beverley Lamont.

Mr Gray invited Anne Armstrong to provide an overview of the current work and processes in place for drafting the recommended actions.

Anne advised that several NMT members has been in contact seeking clarity around the process and timeline. To confirm, subgroups have been looking at a wide range of evidence to inform the development of recommended actions. Colleagues have been amalgamating the emerging recommended actions into a first draft paper which has been shared today, with a view to identifying links, interdependencies, gaps and duplication. Each subgroup has drafted their recommended actions in different formats but for the final report there is a need for a common approach and language. The paper shared ahead of today’s meeting is a first draft and will be amended based on comments and discussions.  All NMT and subgroup members will be engaged through the whole process and will have multiple opportunities to feed into the process to ensure the final report is recognisable to those who took part in the process. There will be strict version control and all comments logged as part of the process.

Beverley Lamont then provided an overview of the development and sign off process, this is included in the presentation. Beverley reassured members that the turnaround time for comments on the initial paper was to allow for discussion at today’s meeting however this is not the final opportunity for members to suggest changes and comments.

Members advised it was helpful to see the process and connections, however some concern was raised about the organisational factors being focused on retention and need to be conscious of attraction into the professions. Colleagues confirmed that since the original paper was shared, based on comments received the organisational factors had been amended to include attraction.

Discussion then focused on the timeline of the Taskforce and the need for an indicative end date to work towards. Colleagues discussed the need to ensure we give sufficient time to subgroups to ensure their recommended actions are achievable. Members agreed that a realistic indicative end date for stage 1 would be early autumn with a view to having the final report in late autumn.

Mr Gray agreed with members that there is urgency in recognising the challenge and agreeing the parameters towards the conclusion of the Taskforce is helpful.

Annemieke Bikker then provided the group with an overview of the initial outline of the NMT report. This has been established with the input of a small reference group. Susan Dawkes queried the reference group membership which Annemieke advised was discussed and agreed at a SG policy leads and subgroup co-chairs meeting but agreed to pick up separately with Susan.

Members were in general agreement with the report structure and the need for the final report to be accessible and attractive to the workforce. There was discussion regarding the steering group membership, with an action raised to include academic membership. Members highlighted that as a ministerial led taskforce, it would be helpful to have the Cabinet Secretary introduce or endorse the final report. The reference group and colleagues will consider the most effective way to ensure this is included whilst keep the report concise.

Beverley Lamont then presented the updated outcome wording to the taskforce. The updated outcomes will be shared with members for comment to agree specific wording. There was general agreement with the outcomes presented, however members agreed to reduce the outcomes from nine to eight, merging outcomes three and eight.

There was discussion regarding ensuring that the outcomes and recommended actions did not exclude certain groups such as academics and focus on clinical staff. A comment was received around the usage of the word ‘staff’, as some members felt this was non-personal, however if we say nurses and midwives, this might exclude people. There will be more thought needed to ensure the final report strikes the right balance. However, we need to recognise that some recommended actions will be more focused towards clinical staff.

Members then discussed possible missing recommended actions, such as currently exit questionnaires being lengthy and possibly off-putting to staff.  The Taskforce could make a possible recommended action in this area to allow a better understand of why nursing and midwifery staff are leaving the professions.​ A second possible missing recommended action highlighted was the need to refresh the 2030 Nursing Strategy, as well as recognising that there hasn’t been a strategy for midwifery since 2020.

Mr Gray was agreeable to the need to refresh the strategy and ensure midwifery is recognised, however advised we must be conscious and avoid strategy fatigue and the timeline required for consultation.

Actions

• Annemieke to contact Susan Dawkes regarding Council of Deans representation on the report reference group

• Scottish Government to draft a recommended action on exit questionnaires to test with members

• Scottish Government to consider Cabinet Secretary introduction to the final report

Next steps - Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

Mr Gray advised from a Scottish Government perspective, the priorities for the coming weeks ahead of the next meeting will be to continue drafting the report, finalising the findings of the Listening Project and for subgroups to continue working to understand the milestones and costs to pull together into an action plan.

AOB and Close - Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.

Mr Gray thanked members for their attendance and participation in the NMT. The next Ministerial meeting will be held on the 29 October 2024. However, as the subgroups develop there may be an official led meeting before this date if required.

Mr Gray brought the meeting to a close.