NMC and Chief Nurse highlight importance of social care nurses in shaping future standards

More than 130 social care nurses from across the UK joined Professor Deborah Sturdy and the NMC’s Acting Executive Director of Professional Practice, Professor Donna O’Boyle, to discuss the changing role of social care nursing and how the profession can help shape the NMC’s reviews of the Code and Revalidation process.

The webinar comes ahead of an NMC roundtable later this week with professionals from the social care sector as part of wider engagement on the reviews.

The discussion explored workforce pressures, the growing complexity of care delivered in social care settings, and the opportunity for nurses to influence future professional standards.

Professor Sturdy highlighted how her engagement with the regulator had developed in recent years.

She said: “The kind of relationship that we’ve built, not just from an England perspective, but from across the four countries of the UK has really helped to build that kind of opportunity, I think, to be really illustrating the very difference of practise in social care from the NHS”.

Professor O’Boyle said the webinar formed part of ongoing engagement with social care nurses as care increasingly shifts into community and social care settings.

She said: "It’s very, very important more than ever that we [the NMC] gain your perspective, you find that you can engage with us, that we’re here to support you, and that you know where we are so that we can hear your voices”.

A key focus of the discussion included how the NMC’s Code and Revalidation process could continue evolving to reflect modern practice across all settings.

Professor Sturdy said social care nurses should be central to that work.

“At this 10-year point of a review of the Code and review of Revalidation, the voices of social care nurses have never been more important in helping shaping that future”.

Professor Sturdy also highlighted the breadth and complexity of modern social care nursing.

“Social care nurses are managing people with complex care needs, multiple-morbidities and who require increasingly complicated interventions. There is a lot of complex clinical care being delivered, and often by practitioners on their own”.

Meanwhile, Professor O’Boyle said work has already been underway to gather evidence to inform changes to the Code and Revalidation process, including the growing impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare.

She said: “We’re hearing from our stakeholders that the use of AI is a major issue. It doesn’t matter where you work in the healthcare environment, it’s going to be a feature of now or the future.”

Professor Sturdy further stressed the importance of ensuring standards reflect the diversity of nursing practice across health and care settings.

She said: “There’s something about a different language that is inclusive of all areas of practice.

“We have to acknowledge that nursing is not just practised in the four walls of the NHS.”

The full webinar is available online, and also captures insights and questions from social care nurses across the UK, highlighting what matters most in day-to-day practice.

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