The legacy of the Ten Point Plan for general practice nurses

Standards for education programmes for nurses new to general practice, developed in partnership with GPNs and educators have also been published, providing consistency for all GPNs who are undertaking...

Spread the word: vitamin D is key for post-menopausal women

Vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common medical conditions in the world (Sizar et al, 2020). It is highly prevalent in older adults in Northern Europe (McCarroll et al, 2015). One in eight over...

Recognising the important role of nurses in general practice

The general practice workforce is made up of multidisciplinary teams working together across primary care networks (PCNs) in order to deliver care for their local populations. It is clear that general...

CARE: a new approach to change in primary care

CARE (Connected, Authentic, Resilient & Empowered) was developed in order to address these three issues. A practical, person-centred and locally owned change management, leadership and resilience...

The power of practice nursing to galvanise the system

The integral role of BAME nurses in primary care

I knew I wanted to become a practice nurse from my first year of nursing studies. I loved the idea of building therapeutic relationships with patients and their families, as I know familiarity...

Reviewing general practice nurse pay, terms and conditions

Anecdotal evidence from students wanting to work in general practice points to GPNs being viewed as lower skilled, with nurses making the move to have a quieter job role, with more social hours..

Fear: an unrecognised symptom of COVID-19

ACT NOW in diabetes and foot assessments: an essential service

There were 7545 major amputations in people living with diabetes in England across three years from 2015–2018 (Public Health England, 2019). There is also a postcode lottery for amputation rates with...

‘Head held high and carrying on’: Reflections from GPNs on the impact of COVID-19

Early on in the pandemic, advising patients about their at-risk category took a lot of time and energy. There was a rapid move from face-to-face to virtual consultations, which proved a challenge due...

Highlighting the value you bring to general practice

The Queen's Nursing Institute (QNI) is aware of this both through our self-referrals for the ‘TalkToUs’ service and the NHS England/NHS Improvement commissioned report on general practice nurses'...

Digital transformation in general practice nursing during COVID-19

I devised a questionnaire examining aspects of knowledge and use of technology. With medical student volunteers and interpreters in some cases, we rang 200 random patients—ranging in age from 18 years...