"Today is International Nurses’ day- a day when nurses across the world celebrate and reflect on nursing through a variety of ways. I wanted to add my reflections to this, in part generated from a small comment made by Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England in his inaugural speech last month (link below). He mentioned the need for “more professional authority for nurses and midwives” – but does this matter?
In the NHS Plan (2000) the Ten Key Roles for Nurses were introduced. This embodied a notion of professional authority. These key roles included the ability for nurses to order diagnostic tests; make direct referrals to other services; to prescribe, and to take a lead in the organisation of local health services. This policy was supported by some legislative changes, but implementation was patchy, and the vision of all these roles being fully embraced by all registered nurses was far from being realised three years after the policy was introduced. (Sawbridge 2003 unpublished). Maybe if it had been, then Simon Stevens would not have to raise this issue again in 2014....."
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