20 | Nursing in Practice | Spring 2022
VIEWS
Opinion and debate on the latest issues affecting nurses in general practice and the community nursingin practice . co . uk
Carolyn Scott is editor of Nursing in Practice
HAVE YOUR SAY ! Visit our Facebookpage at : facebook . com / NursinginPracticeMagazine and share your thoughts on the issues raised
EDITORIAL
Well , it ’ s almost
the weekend …
With the pandemic leading many general practice nurses to consider their future , the planning of new initiatives in primary care , such as imposed Saturday working , must involve nursing input
Nursing is a busy career . Those in the profession are accustomed to going above and beyond for their patients . During the pandemic , nurses across primary care have worked even harder , with longer hours , to meet the many challenges Covid posed to patients and the healthcare system .
Announcements from the Government have come with little or no prior consultation with local healthcare leaders , PCNs or indeed with nurses . Sudden decisions , heard first at national briefings , have caused problems for those charged with making them work on the ground .
In general , many nurses feel they are rarely considered , much less consulted , in initiatives relating to general practice .
A recent example is the announcement of mandatory weekend working in England from October . PCNs will be required to offer appointments from 9am to 5pm on Saturdays , as part of the imposed GP contract updates for 2022 / 23 .
Under new enhanced access arrangements , PCNs will need to provide a ‘ minimum of 60 minutes of appointments per 1,000 PCN adjusted patients per week ’, with bookable appointments for ‘ any general practice services ’. These will need to be a mixture of in-person face-to-face and remote appointments .
This aims to give patients more options to access advice , and contribute to clearing the backlog in care caused by the pandemic . But is this weekend provision really feasible for an already stretched general practice ?
Though nurses will have worked Saturday hours in the past
Many nurses feel they are rarely considered , much less consulted
– for flu vaccinations , for example – and many practices already offer evening appointments , could this be a bridge too far ?
In the latest Nursing in Practice survey ( see page 8 ), we sought the views of nurses working in general practice . So many said they were thinking of leaving their roles , after the stresses of the pandemic . They also told us how recovering their work-life balance was important .
How individual PCNs will choose to approach Saturday appointments , how many practices will be involved and how nurses will be impacted remains unclear . We need more details . It ’ s possible some PCNs may opt to offer the extra appointments at a walk-in centre , or contract separate staff as they did with Covid-19 vaccination centres .
But if individual practices are asked to take this on themselves , it risks being the tipping point for some of those nurses in our survey . While a Saturday service will be useful , especially for the working population , it needs to be planned with care – and with input from all involved , particularly nurses .