🧵 1/7 After our exclusive survey found two-thirds of #nurses in #generalpractice are considering leaving in the next year, we search for a light at the end of the tunnel 🔦

https://www.nursinginpractice.com/analysis/is-there-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nip%20social

2/7 It starts at pre-registration.

‘I want to go into general practice but everyone is telling me how bored I’m going to be.' 

This sentiment from a student nurse shows myths about #practicenursing persist - although recent HEE/NHSE work have somewhat improved the situation.

3/7 GPN education has vastly improved through initiatives such as the fundamentals course, but remains variable.

For example, Sarah Hall @RCNGPNForum says practices sometimes rush through training as they are desperate for staff, which is not good for quality or retention.

4/7 💪 Nurses tell us that leadership opportunities are 'slowly but surely increasing', although many would like to see more nurse representation at #PCN level.

5/7 Meanwhile, ARRS roles are seen as both as a frustration and an opportunity for practice nurses. 

‘Where’s the money funding nursing roles?’ asks Sarah Weaver, a nursing lecturer, while @NaomiBe44702921 argues: ‘A bigger team is better.'

6/7 All the while, #workload is rising, as highlighted by our survey: https://www.nursinginpractice.com/analysis/practice-nurse-analysis-overwhelmed-and-undervalued/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nip%20social

One GPN said they were thinking of retiring early because it was ‘an uphill struggle to keep going’, while a nurse practitioner said they couldn't see ‘any improvements on the horizon’.

7/7 📚 But GPN Joanne Charlton says mentorship can help both experienced nurses remember 'their passion for their job' and support newer nurses. 

'Because they realise how much they do know, and how good it is to pass on knowledge to the next generation,' she says.

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/NurseinPractice/OWctK9N

🧵 1/9 Our exclusive survey of nearly 400 nurses working in general practice shockingly found only 33% of respondents said they were not considering leaving their job in the next year.

2/9 The most common plan to leave was early retirement (18%), followed by moving to a different nursing role outside general practice (11%), changing professions altogether (8%), retiring as planned (6%) and moving to a different role within general practice (5%).

3/9 Many said they felt exhausted, overworked and underpaid, with several citing frustrations with their variable pay, terms and conditions compared with those of other nurses on standardised NHS Agenda for Change contracts.

4/9 Just 33% said they had enough staff at their practice to do their job properly. A director of nursing across multiple practices summed up the problem: ‘We have lost members of our team and are unable to recruit.’

5/9 At the same time, nurses said workload was going up. One GPN said listening to patients vent – for example, about the ‘perceived lack of access to GP appointments’ – took up a ‘large volume’ of their time.

6/9 Many also raised concerns about the backlog of care. One practice nurse said their team felt as if they were ‘failing patients’ because ‘there aren’t enough hours in the day'.

7/9 Heather Randle, professional lead for general practice nursing @theRCN, said our survey’s findings came as ‘no surprise’, particularly after the ‘huge pressures’ of the Covid-19 pandemic ‘against a backdrop of poor pay and working conditions’.

8/9 Ms Randle said:'Staff feel undervalued and invisible, and it’s desperately sad but not surprising that many are thinking of leaving their jobs. Even before the pandemic, the system was under strain with not enough skilled nurses. Now it is in crisis,’


9/9 Read more of our findings here and let us know your thoughts:https://www.nursinginpractice.com/analysis/practice-nurse-analysis-overwhelmed-and-undervalued/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nip%20social

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/NurseinPractice/afPMqKO