Nursing is in a ‘strong position’ to support the government in its focus on prevention and must use its voice to help advocate for change, a senior nurse leader has said.
NHS England’s deputy chief nursing officer Professor Mark Radford has spoken with Nursing in Practice five years on from the Covid-19 pandemic.
While reflecting on the ‘front and centre’ role of nursing in the Covid leadership response, Professor Radford also said the new government’s focus on shifting from sickness to prevention marked another opportunity for the nursing profession.
Nursing in the pandemic
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Professor Radford led the national NHS vaccine workforce programme. He also oversaw the deployment of student nurses, working with 71 Universities in England.
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Looking back, Professor Radford explained how frontline nurses were vital in influencing pandemic decision-making alongside other healthcare staff.
‘As nurses, we were delivering the bulk of frontline care, so our abilities were used around technical aspects of care delivery, wider societal impacts, and also to respond to the various other challenges of a pandemic, right from acute to community to general practice,’ he told Nursing in Practice.
And he stressed that in any future pandemic planning, the nursing voice must be ‘strongly heard’.
The government’s shift to prevention
In more recent times, Professor Radford said the position of nurses had grown in significance following the government’s announcement of its three ‘big shifts’ for healthcare.
‘With one of the government’s three big shifts being around prevention, I think this places nursing in an exceptionally strong position to use its professional voice to advocate for change and also to lead the change,’ he added.
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The shift from sickness to prevention was announced ahead of Lord Ara Darzi’s review into the NHS last year, with Labour also focused on moving from hospital to community, and from analogue to digital.
The government is currently developing its 10-Year Health Plan which is due to be published this spring.
Advanced practice regulation
Professor Radford has also been involved in multiple research projects looking at the roles of nursing in advanced practice.
Commenting on the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s recent move to define advanced practice for the first time, Professor Radford said he was ‘really pleased’ that the regulator had looked at both professional and public understanding of what advanced practice is.
‘[It’s] great to see the public and patient voice involved. And I think this would be an important perspective on cementing advanced practice within nursing, but also, importantly, a public protection feature for the future,’ he added.
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In February, the regulator confirmed that it would not develop advanced practice standards for consultation until the 2027-28 financial year.
Responding to the delay Mr Radford said: ‘I’d love this to come sooner than has been stated, but actually, proper consultation is going to be important as part of this to ensure that we get it right for future generations.’
