Practice nurses across London are to be supported with revalidation this March. The move is part of a month-long drive by NHS England London to promote primary care.
Eileen Bryant, the regional lead for out-of-hospital care and a practice nursing advisor, said that they will use the month to support practice nurses with the imminent introduction of the professional update.
‘We’re going to be raising awareness with all of primary care especially with GPs who will be supporting with revalidation. I’ve got links with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and we’ll be running some workshops to raise awareness of the requirements of practice nurses,’ she said.
Ms Bryant also said that she will be working with practice nurse leads in CCGs to ensure that funding allocated specifically for practice nurse training is disseminated. She acknowledged that this was often a barrier for primary care nurses.
She will also work with these leads to encourage GP practices to take on more student nurses to improve recruitment rates into general practice and primary care nursing. She states that much of this work is ongoing and will continue after March.
The campaign aims to highlight all the different workstreams in primary care including practice nurses, specialist nurses and community pharmacists.
The month has been organised in conjunction with the Healthy London Partnership, strategic clinical networks and other key groups.
A series of blog posts will be published on the NHS England London website outlining the month’s activity and social media participation can be found by searching for the hashtag #primarycare.
NHS England London is looking for areas of good practice and encourages people to get in touch through england.lsmedia@nhs.net