After another challenging year for general practice and community nurses, Madeleine Anderson sits down with Dr Crystal Oldman, chief executive of the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI), to look back on 2024 and consider the obstacles and opportunities for nursing in the year ahead.
The value of GPNs
The QNI has increased its focus on general practice nurses (GPNs) over the past year, something Dr Oldman says reflects the central role the profession plays in delivering care in the community.
‘I think we’ve always done some work with general practice nurses, but I think it was a recognition that they’re needed in every village, town and city, and every citizen has a right to access a GPN,’ she says.
‘It’s about that kind of universal coverage and a recognition that our general practice nurse colleagues are absolutely a part of the nurses in the community nursing family.’
Collaborating with colleagues
Dr Oldman stresses the importance of collaboration between colleagues working across primary and community care, particularly between GPs and GPNs.
‘Our GPs are our best friends, it’s not about a competition either, it’s about the nursing role in that coordination of care, in that management of long-term conditions, in that understanding and knowing, often several generations of the same family living in the same area that you’re supporting,’ she adds.
‘We do a fantastic job with our communities’
More focus is needed on promoting the ‘fantastic work’ of nurses in the community, says Dr Oldman, standing by her previous warning that GPNs are often ‘airbrushed and ignored.’
‘We have a role which is supporting the NHS in its mission to have fewer unplanned admissions, inappropriate admissions, and the management of the increasing number of multiple long-term conditions and a growing older population,’ she explains.
She highlights the value of having nurses ‘at the table’ to share their ‘deep knowledge’ when developing expert policy for general practice and the community.
‘We firmly believe and have evidence that nurses who are around the table are very informed and part of what they do is imparting their wisdom to inform policy,’ adds Dr Oldman.
‘So, if you don’t have nurses at the table who work in general practice then policy might not be as good as it could be.’
Looking ahead
The development of a ‘neighbourhood health service’ has been central to Labour’s plans to shift the focus from a hospital to community-based preventative care model.
‘They [nurses] know what a neighbourhood health service looks like, nurses know their communities,’ Dr Oldman says.
‘They [nurses] know their local area, and they are the wisdom around how people live, how to support them, and what other services are available that they can refer to.’
Sharing her Christmas message for the community care workforce Dr Oldman stressed that all healthcare workers are ‘here to serve the same community’.
‘So, every part needs to work together,’ she says.
Speaking directly to nurses she adds: ‘I’d love to say thank you, thank you for all that you do.’
In September, the QNI founded its General Practice Nurse Network which now has over 800 members and organises regular webinars and is open to all GPNs, including non-QNI members.
Those behind the network previously said they hoped it would provide GPNs the ‘headspace’ for learning and help to raise the profile of the profession.
Last year, the QNI introduced six new ‘Field Specific Standards’ for Specialist Practitioner Qualifications (SPQS), building upon the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) 2022 Standards.
Dr Oldman says one of her ‘highlights’ of 2024 was the continued roll-out of these standards, with eight universities now seeking to apply for, or having already receive QNI endorsement for GPN standards. Another seventeen have been endorsed, or are be seeking QNI endorsement in the other fields of practice.
The nine standards reflect an advanced level of practice across areas including district nursing, general practice nursing, and adult social care nursing.
