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in their careers ,’ says Dr Maxwell , who is clinical adviser at the National Institute for Health Research Dissemination Centre .
Stereotyping as a ‘ feminised profession ’ has meant nursing has had to fight hard to be taken seriously . ‘ Over the years we have raised the profession ’ s profile and are now trained at degree level . This means we are getting more recognition for our role , but we are still behind some other medical professionals ,’ says Ms Bradley .
Carole Phillips was until recently a nurse clinical director at Brunel Health Group PCN , and is a national professional advisor for the CQC , and a senior lecturer at the University of Portsmouth , developing the physicians associate and advanced clinical practice course . She says practice nurses can still be seen as subordinates to GPs , as nurses or HCAs in general practice today are given tasks such
Be resilient – when you put yourself into leadership roles you get knockbacks . Believe in yourself Jenny Bostock restocking supplies in the practice rooms , changing the paper on examination tables and emptying bins . Ms Baldwin says she has seen nurses who have been ‘ pushed aside ’ in favour of male nurses when applying for senior posts . She says a former female nurse colleague was told a male nurse had been given a job she had applied for because ‘ he had a family to provide for ’.
PATRICK GEORGE
Following its publication , RCN chief executive Pat Cullen has pledged to ‘ overhaul ’ the organisation , and launched immediate investigations into the incidents referred to in the report . And president Dr Denise Chaffer says the report must lead to ‘ transformational change ’ within the college .
A feminised profession ? The reasons why men in nursing have a disproportionately powerful voice are complex , but are rooted in the profession ’ s history . Since men were able to join the register , they have gravitated towards problem-solving ‘ male gendered ’ work , says nurse academic Dr Elaine Maxwell . These roles are seen as more valuable and more visible than ‘ female gendered work ’, which is regarded as being more about relationship and social support .
‘ What you then see is male nurses moving quickly into advanced practice or into leadership roles early on
References 1 Punshon G et al . Nursing pay by gender distribution in the UK - does the Glass Escalator still exist ? International Journal of Nursing Studies 2019 ; 93:21-29 . bit . ly / 2GAZF4M 2 NHS Digital . General Practice Workforce , 31 October 2022 . bit . ly / 3GSLqq8 3 Chauhan G and Baird B . How can we develop professionally diverse leadership in primary care ? London : King ’ s Fund , 2022 . bit . ly / 3gDR3hh 4 Carr B . Independent review into the culture of the Royal College of Nursing . London : RCN , 2022 . bit . ly / 3EvKKnG
Resources
• NHS Confederation : Health and Care Women Leaders Network . nhsconfed . org / womenleaders
• NHS Leadership Academy : leadershipacademy . nhs . uk
• QNI : Leadership programmes for community nurses . bit . ly / 3U7UPND
• RCN : Leadership . bit . ly / 3iefli5
Career development One of the barriers to taking on higher-level decisionmaking roles is that in primary care nursing in particular , there is not as much room for career development as there is in hospital-based roles , which are more attractive to men . For example , unlike in secondary care , practice nurses do not have career pathways equivalent to , say , a director or associate director of nursing .
Career development opportunities in primary care depend on the employer ‘ who should have a workforce strategy for people to develop ’, says Dr Maxwell .
In practice nursing , this strategy will be down to the individual GP practice . But with general practice so stretched , there may be little time or resources to enable GPNs to develop their careers .
However , Jade Fenton , a practice nurse team leader in Worcester , says that ‘ while there is nowhere near enough education or courses available to keep us progressing quickly , we can still learn by example , and through effective teamworking and support ’.
Compared with when she started in practice nursing in 2009 , she says ‘ there is a lot more on offer now , and we have training budgets from local PCNs to use annually ’.
While NHS staff have Agenda for Change , GPNs are reliant on the terms and conditions set out by general practices , which can vary widely . Ms Bradley says : ‘ Time and again I ’ ve seen nurses leave general practice because of terms and conditions .’
Terms and conditions for maternity leave are often poor , and could be holding women back from progressing their careers . ‘ I know a lot of practice nurses who have only had the Government ’ s statutory maternity pay . Considering salaried GPs get full NHS benefits , it does seem unfair – and it doesn ’ t seem to be improving ,’ says Mrs Fenton .