Five-year ‘vision’ for nursing and midwifery in Wales to be launched next month
A new five-year ‘strategic vision’ for nursing and midwifery in Wales is expected to be launched next month.
Deputy chief nursing officer (DCNO) for Wales, Gillian Knight, announced the themes of the upcoming blueprint at a Florence Nightingale Foundation (FNF) event in London today, attended by Nursing in Practice.
The vision for 2025-2030 is set to be formally launched by chief nursing officer (CNO) for Wales, Sue Tranka, on 11 November.
Speaking to an audience of FNF scholars and health leaders, the deputy CNO described the new strategy as a plan designed to empower nurses and midwives across Wales and beyond.
The document, which was signed off by ministers and executive teams across NHS Wales this week, has been over a year in development and responds to national priorities for nursing in Wales.
Related Article: Why we need a strong nursing voice in primary care
‘At its heart are themes of leadership, innovation, equity, and courage – themes that echo with everything we’re exploring here today,’ Ms Knight said.
‘This is the vision. It’s all about our workforce – nurses and midwives – they’ve got to feel valued, they have to be supported and empowered to deliver the very best care,’ she added.
How was the vision developed?
The five-year strategy was developed using a survey of more than 800 nurse respondents from Wales, as well as webinars and focus groups with early-career and late-career professionals, service users, and young people.
It is divided into six strategic themes which will be used to inform the strategy going forward.
The six strategic themes
A valued, respected, and empowered workforce: The strategy will demand nurses and midwives feel valued, supported, and empowered to deliver the best care. This includes improving conditions, wellbeing support, and workplace culture across the country.
Empowered leadership and professional identity: The strategy will call for confident, visible leadership at every level of nursing. It aims to ensure nurses across all roles are supported to shape policy, practice, and innovation.
Expertise through education, research, and data: The plan will commit to delivering lifelong learning research and data use for nurses, with the goal of ensuring nurses have the necessary time available for staff development and to ‘embed career long learning’.
Related Article: GP access changes trigger concerns over nurse workload and patient safety
Population-focused and preventative care: The strategy will also pledge to work in partnership with communities to deliver more preventative and proactive care ‘across the life course’.
Innovations in care and workforce models: The plan will commit to creating services which ‘embrace digital tools’ and integrate health and social care through ‘agile, multi-professional models’.
Global leadership and partnership: The final theme acknowledges Wales’ role on the world stage, including partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) with full details to be revealed in November.
Source: Gillian Knight
How will the plan be delivered?
Ms Knight outlined how each theme will be accompanied by a ‘summit’ to drive implementation which will involve a lead from government policy and an executive director or nursing lead from Wales.
Related Article: Learning disability nursing needs urgent ‘rescue plan’
‘We will have outputs, we have timelines, and we will deliver and make it better for our workforce,’ she said.
Duncan Burton, the chief nursing officer (CNO) for England is separately developing a new professional strategy for nursing and midwifery professionals that was launched earlier in the summer.
In August, the government in England launched its ‘Graduate Guarantee’ for nursing and midwifery, with the promise of providing more jobs for newly qualified nurses and midwives by converting healthcare support worker posts into registered nursing positions ‘where suitable’.
See how our symptom tool can help you make better sense of patient presentations
Click here to search a symptom
