Ensuring a strong nursing voice is heard

Beverly Ingram, Executive Clinical Lead, Workforce Transformation and Innovation, talks about her new role in the nursing policy team.

I have been in my current post for just over three months, having been a Chief Nurse in Birmingham for the past eight years. My role is to provide senior clinical and system leadership and a strong nursing voice working closely with a wide network of organisations and individuals to deliver on a key set of national and local objectives. Taking oversight of workforce development and workforce planning means I work with some extremely talented managers and technical specialists.

Currently, I’m focused on supporting the new NHS place-based approach which is embedded in the Five Year Forward View and other care reforms by ensuring that the local HEE operating model works effectively and with a level of transparency and engagement - which means we can achieve change and improvement through collaboration. There is a requirement within the Sustainability and Transformational Planning process to support this, which means that there is a strong provider voice and the right amount of local engagement to deliver reforms and transformation at the right pace and scale.

In the West Midlands there are five local transformational programme aimed at 'big picture' development which will support present and future care through workforce and service change. The transformational themes are:

• leadership
• urgent and emergency care
• mental health
• primary Care
• integrated care

Each of the themes above takes a cross cutting approach and is led by a project board reporting into the local office. There are many examples of excellence in practice and new role service developments such as the following.

1. In response to the Health Education England - West Midlands Team Innovation Programme, a subgroup of the Local Education and Training Council proposed an innovation programme called Skills Enhancement for Rural Communities (SERC). The programme was designed to take clinical skills training to healthcare staff operating in rural communities. The overall aim was to develop the community and primary care workforce to facilitate the provision of care closer to home by providing the opportunity for up-skilling and continuing professional development.
2. Multi-disciplinary Advanced Clinical Practitioners aimed at responding to service demand, address other Workforce shortages and enable care closer to home. This has led to the publication of the advanced clinical practice framework for the West Midlands.
3. Generic service interventions pathway, a competency framework to support the learning disability workforce. Health Education England, in partnership with Skills for Health, developed competency framework to help identify and develop effective education and training. The framework identifies things that people who provide learning disability services need to know and do when delivering service interventions.

Mine is a new role and I am keen to add value and support the exciting health care agenda by also working on additional projects, an example is the Magnet pilot programme for mental health and learning disability trusts in the West Midlands. I am working with a local provider trusts on this pilot which is innovative and has the potential to develop sustainable benefits for people who use health and support services.

I also represent the Midlands and East on the wider Shape of Caring group led by Lisa Bayliss-Pratt. I am very proud to be involved in this exciting time in the development of nursing careers. My offer is copious amounts of enthusiasm and a well-developed network of committed and innovative colleagues.

Contact Beverly at beverly.ingram@wm.hee.nhs.uk.