In January of this year, we were anticipating all the activities and opportunities to celebrate 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, discussing what a wonderful year it was going to be to showcase general practice nursing and to demonstrate the very significant contribution of GPNs to the health of every citizen of our country.
Whilst the planned celebrations, ceremonies and conferences have all been put on hold for the foreseeable future, the current COVID-19 pandemic has brought general practice nursing into the spotlight like never before. General practice has been recognised for its expertise in serving the residents of every village, town and city in the UK and for its agility in adapting to the current crisis in ways that are unprecedented in primary care.
In a matter of days, practices changed the way consultations are conducted, and now, wherever possible, individuals can consult with their general practice nurse by telephone or video link. Many primary care networks rose to the challenge and organised ‘hot hub’ sfor consultations with people suspected of being infected with COVID-19, with other practices offering face to face appointments with patients without the symptoms of the virus.
General practice nurses know their local communities, adapting their practice to meet the needs of people identified for shielding and recognising the impact on those who are now in isolation at home. In some cases, group consultations have continued with virtual meetings, where appropriate, enabling general practice nurses to keep in touch and monitor the health of some of the most vulnerable during this period of lockdown.
The current crisis has also accelerated the ways in which community services are now working together with general practice. Bureaucratic processes that might otherwise have been a barrier to creative partnership working have been quickly overcome, with nursing colleagues finding ways to support their communities in close collaboration with district nursing services, care homes and domiciliary carers.
Nursing as a profession has risen to the challenge with the Nursing and Midwifery Council opening up a temporary register: https://www.nmc.org.uk/news/coronavirus/temporary-registration/
At the time of writing, this has enabled more than 3000 Registered Nurses, 800 overseas nurses and 10500 third year nursing students (within six months of qualifying) to join the workforce. These numbers will continue to grow, which is essential given the numbers of nurses who are on sick leave due to viral symptoms and the additional need for nursing care within the population. The redeployment of registered nurses to general practice nursing, care home nursing and the district nursing service during the pandemic has been supported by Health Education England and the QNI, with rapid training plans now available to download from our website: https://www.qni.org.uk/nursing-inthe-community/care-home-nurses-network/coronavirus-information-centre/
The QNI continues to champion and support general practice nurses during this current pandemic. I have personally highlighted to central government the financial impact on general practice nurses where for a minority, their terms and conditions provide only the minimum statutory sick pay, leaving them financially compromised when they develop symptoms of the virus, which in all probability was contracted in the course of their work.
This is an employment issue which has been highlighted for many years, and has now been brought to the attention of the Minister for Primary Care, Prevention and Public Health, Jo Churchill MP. Along with this, I have been raising the issues of access to and confidence in sufficient supplies of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) in general practice, staff testing, and also working to ensure a greater understanding of the significant role played by nurses in primary care.
There are no experts in this pandemic. We have never faced a virus like this before. We are all learning and adapting as the virus spreads through our communities. It is bringing out the best in our profession and it is a joy to see nurses come together and work collectively in the community, from primary care, community services, independent and third sector - in health and in social care - to meet the existing and changing needs of individuals, families and communities. This will be the new normal for our profession beyond COVID-19.