Raising the profile of school nursing in Scotland
The Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland has thrown a spotlight on a report on Scotland’s nursing workforce and the need to raise the profile of school nursing.
On its website, the QNIS has published a report by Dr Elaine Allan, QNIS Fellow and lecturer on the Nursing MSc Advancing Practice degree at Robert Gordon University, in which she discusses the findings of the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) third The Nursing Workforce in Scotland report.
A group of RCN members representing all fields of practice, including nursing students, shared their personal experiences and perspective on the challenges facing the profession in Scotland at a meeting in Edinburgh on May 5.
Dr Allan said the report represents the ‘bigger picture’ using evidence based on Scotland’s nursing workforce statistics, and offers 10 recommendations to address the nursing workforce crisis, concentrating on a nursing retention strategy.
In her report on the QNIS website, she said: “The event gave members an opportunity to have a dialogue with Scotland’s Interim Chief Nursing Officer, Anne Armstrong, and key MSPs from across parties. The challenges of the normalisation of staff shortages and increased demand resulting in unsafe practices was discussed. In addition, the negative impact on patients, staff and colleagues was stressed, particularly the effects on the mental and physical wellbeing of nursing staff.
“Themes of being under-staffed and under-valued were consistent across all disciplines, and the report makes for stark reading.
“Although there is reference to Health Visiting, and to paediatric nursing, there is no reference to School Nursing specifically.
“The report is timely given the increasing needs of school aged children and young people specifically related to the gaps in mental health and wellbeing services, for example, which school nurses attempt to fill.
“In addition, the School and Public Health Nurse Association recently launched a campaign in partnership with QNI and the College of Medicine, and SAPHNA and the QNIS are also liaising to raise the awareness of this report, A school nurse for every school.
“School Nursing as a profession needs to collectively find a way to raise its profile to improve understanding of the value of the School Nurse role for children and young people.”
The piece on the QNIS website also includes a case study called Sharing a sustainable, effective and progressive school nursing model for the future – NHS Tayside in partnership with Robert Gordon University.
To read the case study, click here