Nursing summit planned for leaders across nursing, midwifery and care professions
The Chief Nursing Officer of NHS England is interviewed ahead of her 2 day summit for 500 senior leaders across the nursing, midwifery and care profession in mid-March.
Since March 2012, Professor Jane Cummings as Chief Nursing Officer has been the professional lead for all nurses and midwives in England, with the exception of Health Visitors and School Nurses. Jane provides advice and support to ministers and policy officials across the Department of Health and central government departments. She also has statutory responsibilities within NHS England.
“I wear two hats,” said Jane.
“In addition to being the professional lead for about 98% of nurses and midwives, I am responsible for a number of national programmes within NHS England, including maternity, patient experience, patient participation, learning disabilities and equality and diversity.
“As CNO for England, I work closely with Secretary of State for Health; Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP and other health and care ministers. I work closely with other senior colleagues across a number of Arms-Length bodies such as NHS Improvement, Health Education England, Public Health England CQC and organisations such as the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives and Unison.
“There are over 550,000 nurses and midwives in England and I have two fantastic Deputy Chief Nursing Officers who support me; Ruth May, Executive Director of Nursing at NHS Improvement and Hilary Garratt, Director of Nursing, NHS England.
“I am delighted to say that my fifth year milestone as CNO for England is just around the corner and I am extremely proud to lead such a diverse and committed workforce. Nursing and midwifery has developed significantly in a number of areas since 2012.
“Over these five years, there have been times of great challenge – the Francis Report, the Keogh Report, the Cavendish and Berwick Reviews in 2012-13 all highlighted how we needed to improve and in doing so, emphasised the centrality of compassion in the care delivered to patients.
“I launched our strategy, Compassion in Practice, in 2012 which included the 6Cs: Care, Compassion, Competence, Communication, Courage, and Commitment in December 2012. The 6Cs are the values and behaviours that the people we care for said were important to them and that professionals said were at the centre of being a nurse, midwife, or care staff member and they continue to underpin our important work day in day out.
“In 2013, our Care Makers came to fruition and continue to have a real passion for ensuring patient-centred, compassionate care. The role was created following the Games Makers at the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. Our Care Makers are nurses, midwives, allied health professionals (AHPs) and Health Care Assistants (HCAs) who act as ambassadors for the 6Cs. To date, we have over 900 Care Makers across England, all of which are instrumental ambassadors of how nursing, midwifery and care staff deliver services with patients at the core.
“Nursing, midwifery and care staff constantly deliver safe, quality care and a recent survey by Ipsos Mori showed we are the most trusted profession, with 93% of respondents saying they trust nursing staff. This is a fantastic achievement and one which all staff should be proud of.
“Demands on health and care services continue to be very challenging and to help address these changes I launched Leading Change, Adding Value: a framework for nursing, midwifery and care staff in May 2016. The framework follows the success of Compassion in Practice and positions all nursing, midwifery and care staff as leaders who will shape the actions needed to meet the challenges of today and the changing health and care landscape of the future.
“Workforce remains a challenge and I am committed as CNO to work with national partner organisations, including the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives and the Nursing and Midwifery Council to ensure that we continue to ensure nursing and midwifery are recognised as highly rewarding careers with many opportunities to work in a variety of settings and specialties.”
As CNO, Jane has a close working relationship with many individuals across central government and the House of Lords.
“I am currently working with Baroness Watkins on a number of nursing priorities, to focus on the drive to support and secure a professional workforce for the future” said Jane.
“I am also working closely with Baroness Cumberlege who led the national maternity review. I am the Senior Responsible Officer for the maternity transformation programme which will ultimately help deliver the vision for maternity services so they become safer, more personalised, kinder, professional and more family friendly, centered on women and their babies’ needs.”
Baroness Watkins and Baroness Cumberlege are attending the CNO for England’s Summit in March this year.
“I’m delighted to be working closely with Jane to discuss a number of current nursing challenges” said Baroness Watkins.
“As a nurse, I have always been driven by the desire to improve patient care, as an academic I aimed to instill that ethos in students, and through my work in mental health and housing I have endeavoured to ensure that those who are in most in need are always considered when developing future strategies.”
Baroness Cumberlege said “It’s really important that I have a close working relationship with the CNO for England to ensure that the maternity transformation programme is on track to deliver the vision set out in Better Births.
“Jane is a committed leader with a passion for nursing and midwifery services. The transformation of maternity services is a large, national programme with a real focus on improving outcomes for women and their babies and Jane’s link with Government and the wider NHS is vital to ensure services can improve.”
Jane added: “My Summit offers an important opportunity for more than 500 senior leaders across the nursing, midwifery and care profession to come together to explore and plan how we can use their knowledge, experience and collective ambition to maximise leadership to manage the current pressures and the future design of the health and care system.
“This includes delivering on the triple aims of improving health and well-being of our staff and wider population, improving care and quality and using our resources in the best and most efficient way.”
As well as the CEOs of most of our ALBs, the Secretary of State for Health will also be speaking at the Summit outlining the national context and importance of nursing, midwifery and care leadership across the NHS and beyond.
The CNO for England’s Summit takes place on 14 and 15 March 2017 in Birmingham. Further detail can be found at www.england.nhs.uk/cnosummit, @6CsLive, #cnosummit. You can follow Professor Jane Cummings on twitter, @JaneMCummings.
