QICN to close long Covid nursing network

The Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing (QICN) has made the ‘difficult decision’ to close its long Covid network.

The decision was made after funding that supported the group came to an end and as the charity moves to focus on its new field-specific faculties.

Established in 2021, the long Covid nursing network was founded to explore issues and practice related to the management of long Covid in community, primary care and social care.

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In an announcement to members last week Helen Donovan, a registered nurse who currently leads the network, said: ‘I appreciate this will be disappointing news, but I hope you can understand why we have made this decision.

‘We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your contributions to this network, and for continuing to improve care and increase understanding about the effects of long Covid.’

Outlining the decision to Nursing in Practice, QICN chief executive Steph Lawrence explained that having a standalone long Covid forum ‘no longer aligns’ with the QICN’s strategy and its focus on its new faculties for specific fields of nursing.

‘We have had to make the difficult decision to close the QICN Long Covid Network,’ she said.

‘A standalone long Covid forum no longer aligns with our strategic direction, as we move to focusing work around faculties for specific fields of nursing.’

The QICN has developed Field Specific Standards, at an Advanced Practice level, for nine fields of practice in community nursing and is developing faculties for each area. These are:

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• Adult social care nursing
• Community children’s nursing
• Community mental health nursing
• District nursing
• General practice nursing
• Inclusion health nursing
• Health and justice nursing
• Community learning disability nursing
• Palliative and end of life care nursing

‘We are in the process of launching nine faculties and our work will be organised around those from 2026 – I don’t have any more detail on that yet though,’ Ms Lawrence added.

The QICN’s faculties of general practice nursing and adult social care nursing launched this year, with the organisation next planning to kickstart its children’s nursing faculty before Christmas.

Through the soon-to-close long Covid network, nurses had access to online meetings, a closed Facebook group and the sharing of resources, and used the network to access new information and research about the longer-term effects of Covid-19.

The network also provided resources for nurses and midwives living with long Covid, with the goal of raising awareness and advocating for healthcare professionals working with the condition.

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The final meeting of the long Covid network will take place on Thursday 20 November.

Earlier this month, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and British Medical Association (BMA) jointly criticised the government for failing to recognise long Covid and severe Covid-19 complications as occupational diseases for health and social care workers.