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There has been a lot of speculation about how the NHS can be made a more efficient service within the government’s budget, no more so than now when the country is fighting its way out of a recession.  Over the years it has been primarily management and parliamentary figures undertaking many of the major decisions over policies and how money should be spent.  This however does not guarantee that the voices and opinions of nurses, midwives and other ground staff within the NHS are given a fair hearing.

At this year’s Chief Nurse’s conference though, Christine Beasley chief nursing officer for England, will be giving every nurse a voice when she will present ten “high impact actions” which will have been suggested by nurses.  The proposed actions will have been suggested via the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement website, where nurses could advocate their ideas, browse other people’s actions, comment on, and vote for their favorites.  The proposed actions made were to be those which are already in practice by midwives and nurses, and which were demonstrating improvement in the quality of care and reducing costs.

A letter from chief nurses on the Institute’s website has labeled the choosing of ten high impact actions “a call to action for all nurses and midwives”, with the idea being to improve patient care and the effectiveness of nursing jobs.  The chief nursing officer had previously warned that if nurses didn’t show efficiency and strong leadership within their jobs they could possibly face cuts by management.  This was their chance to prove themselves as efficient policy makers.

Nurse jobs involving individualised patient care and risk assessment had many suggested calls to action. For example when assessing which patients were likely to have accidents when in care, one hospital has adopted a scheme where patients were classed as “at risk” or “not at risk” as opposed to being ranked on a scale.  This led to a more individual approach to each patient, and has significantly reduced the amount of falls and accidents in the hospital, saving thousands of pounds in saved bed days.  If simple examples such as this could be rolled out nationwide, the savings could be tremendous.

Surveys like this top ten high impact actions give an important and powerful voice to nurses and midwives.  They are the people who treat and deal with patients on a daily basis and work within the hospitals, giving them a qualified voice to comment on the way things are run. Unfortunately sometimes their voices are not heard by management, despite there being worker’s unions in place, but this vote of confidence from the chief nursing officer should give a boost to the morale of the hard working staff within UK hospitals.

The author works for a website specialised in nursing jobs and nurse jobs in the UK.

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