Dr Elaine Allan is a QNIS Fellow and a Lecturer on the Nursing MSc Advancing Practice degree at Robert Gordon University.
Here she discusses the findings of the recent RCN report on Scotland’s nursing workforce, and the need to raise the profile of school nursing.
Coinciding with publication of the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) third The Nursing Workforce in Scotland report (click here to read) 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 5 May.
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.
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 (click here to read).
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 and now, during election year, when politicians are listening, is the time to do it.
Case study
Sharing a sustainable, effective, and progressive school nursing model for the future – NHS Tayside in partnership with Robert Gordon University
A sustainable and effective school nursing service is dependent on NHS Boards recruiting and retaining school nurses to meet the needs of the school age population, underpinned by education.
NHS Tayside has invested in school nurse education at master’s level since 2017. It has also developed a model for managing the school nursing service and investing in school nurse education throughout management structures and across the Tayside region. The MSc Advancing Practice (School Nursing) at Robert Gordon University encompasses the four pillars of advancing practice – clinical practice, leadership and management, education, and research – the Nursing Midwifery Council (NMC) Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN) Proficiencies (2022) and The Scottish Government’s Transformation of the School Nurse Role (2018).
NHS Tayside was an early adopter of the Scottish Governments (SGs) Refocused Role of the School Nurse, delivering a targeted school nursing service to all children across the region translating Scottish Government policy into practice. Translation of the Scottish Government directive is further demonstrated in the structure of the school nursing service in NHS Tayside, which invested in a model that focuses on supporting school nurse education threaded through management, team leaders, practice educators and specialist school nurses who are all educated to MSc Advanced Nurse Practitioners – School Nursing level. School nursing service design and delivery is therefore grounded in research, teaching, expertise in clinical practice and leadership, which has created an environment where the school nurse role is valued. This model supports student school nurses within teams where excellence is embedded, and leadership acknowledged as fundamental in the role of a school nurse.
In addition, the school nursing service in NHS Tayside supports a clear career pathway through which school nurses can progress. It is led by a Senior Nurse, three regional Team Leaders and three Practice Educators which is exemplary, with the potential to support recruitment and retention of staff.
NHS Tayside’s framework for the School Nursing Service and School Nurse education offers a sustainable approach, with prevention and early intervention to support children and young people, to reduce health inequalities across the area, whilst raising the profile of the uniqueness of school nurse role.
Through innovation, this structure (model) could be replicated by Health Boards across the United Kingdom and used as an exemplar School Nursing Services across the United Kingdom to deliver evidence-based nursing grounded in leadership to benefit children young people and families.
For further details please contact: Carol Paterson – Practice Educator/Specialist Community Public Health Nurse, Carol.Paterson2@nhs.scot.
