On April 15, the ELFT Primary Care Directorate held a successful away day at Toynbee Hall in East London. The event brought together forty colleagues, including nurses, paramedics, healthcare assistants, and pharmacists from all ELFT practices.
Leadership was provided by Julie Roye, ELFT Head of Nursing for Primary Care, with support from Christina Guevara, Deputy Head of Nursing and Allied Health Professionals (AHP), and Eileen Bryant, ELFT Director of Nursing and Community Health Services (CHS).
Notable attendees included Interim Chief Nurse Claire McKenna, Executive Director of Primary Care Dr. Mohit Venkataram, ELFT Deputy Chief Executive Edwin Ndlovu, Jane Clegg, Regional Chief Nurse from NHS England, and Louise Brady, Primary Care Nursing Lead for NHS England and Vince Thomas Director of Nursing and Quality at NHS England and Improvement.
The day featured workshops focusing on enhancing nursing practices within primary care. Topics included improving communication with patients, breaking language barriers, streamlining access, and elevating overall patient care. Another key workshop centred on staff wellbeing, discussing benefits available to staff, ways to show value to healthcare professionals, and methods to boost staff satisfaction.
In addition, the day covered a broad range of topics aimed at advancing nursing practices and patient care:
- Insights on the long-term vision for NHS nursing and the Fuller review, briefed by the Regional Chief Nurse.
- The journey of returning to practice nursing.
- The Specialist Practitioner Qualification Practice Nurse (SPQPN) journey.
- Requirements and processes for the Association for Respiratory Technology & Physiology (ARTP) course and the challenges involved.
- Strategies for improving diabetes management by practice.
- The journey of Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACP) and their role in transition.
- Managing mental health within primary care.
- Efforts to reduce health inequalities and better connect with local communities.
- Models for improvement and strategies outlined in the primary care annual plan.
Julie Roye highlighted the significance of the day: "Today is crucial for our primary care nurses as it brings together GP surgery nurses to work as a united team. It provides an opportunity to enhance population health, staff satisfaction, and community health. That's what makes today so fantastic."
Eileen Bryant added, "It was wonderful to see all the nurses in primary care come together to share their successes. The enthusiasm in the room was truly inspiring. As we implement the recommendations from the Fuller report, primary care nurses will be key in leading this change."
The day was pivotal in benefiting patients and improving team collaboration, focusing on projects that enhance population health and staff satisfaction, ensuring a positive impact on patient health.
