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And in October , the college teamed up with the British Medical Association in a pledge to ensure ‘ fully funded , fairer terms ’ for GPNs .
GPNs who do not receive the full 6 % uplift are being surveyed by the RCN about how their employers have handled the situation . Findings will then be used to ‘ put a case ’ to the government over the experience of GPNs in relation to pay , says Ms Randle .
The RCN is also working to ‘ empower ’ GPNs with ‘ knowledge ’ around how the pay process works within general practice and about what to ask their employers concerning the uplift .
In recent months , GPNs have spoken to Nursing in Practice about how ‘ inherently unfair ’ and ‘ disappointing ’ it is that some risk missing out on the full pay rise because of the complex funding formula used to distribute it . Some have warned the situation will ‘ do little to address the workforce crisis in primary care ’, with others saying it ‘ demoralises and devalues ’ the profession .
Ms Randle says her ‘ ideal ’ would be to see ‘ ringfenced money in order to protect nurses working in general practice , so that they would get equal pay , terms and conditions to nurses working in hospitals ’.
‘ Leadership is the key ’ Ms Randle says action must be taken to ‘ empower ’ GPNs to be leaders , in order to build a voice and value for the profession . She believes there should be ‘ a requirement ’ for every integrated care board to have a nurse director . ‘ Very often , it ’ s a medically led model , with a nurse sitting as part of the team . And actually , what we need is to have that [ nurse ] leadership , because the leadership will then create the voice , which will then create the value of the nurses ,’ she says .
Seeing GPNs in leadership positions would also help tackle ongoing issues of nurses feeling ‘ invisible ’ and undervalued by key stakeholders and the wider system . ‘ Patients who see nurses regularly know what they do . It ’ s everybody else that doesn ’ t ,’ says Ms Randle . ‘ And if you ask a GP , they wouldn ’ t be able to manage without
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If we don ’ t improve the offer to GPNs , we risk losing nurses in general practice and the massive skill set they bring
DO YOU ALSO HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT GENERAL PRACTICE NURSING ? We ’ d like to hear from as many nurses as possible , so please send your views to meganford @ cogora . com
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their nurses , but that doesn ’ t seem to translate into communication – people don ’ t see that .’ She concludes : ‘ For me , I think the key is leadership .’
‘ RCN making breakthroughs ’ Asked for the highlights of 2023 , the college ’ s professional lead for primary care says : ‘ From an RCN point of view , we ’ ve got practice nurses on board .’ GPNs ‘ feel like we listen to them now ’, she adds .
‘ We ’ re providing support to them with the challenges they are facing . I think we ’ re starting to make those breakthroughs .’
The college is ‘ becoming a voice within the system ’, with invitations to workforce planning and contract meetings with the government , explains Ms Randle . ‘ I think it ’ s really important that the RCN is there , both as a union and a professional body , because we can help them steer the future of general practice nursing .’
She says it has been good for GPNs ‘ to get back to business as usual ’ over the past year , following the pandemic , and to continue demonstrating the ‘ valuable ’ and ‘ rewarding ’ career on offer in general practice .
What will 2024 bring ? Ms Randle says she believes 2024 ‘ could be the demise of practice nursing , or it could be the making of practice nursing ’ – depending on what action is taken to recruit , retain and support the profession .
It ’ s an ominous warning . ‘ We ’ ve got an ageing population of practice nurses [ and ] there ’ s no incentive for nurses to be recruited into the system because they have to compromise on too much ,’ she says .
‘ We need to see improvement in the recruitment of nurses and improvement to the offer we can give to nurses in general practice , so it becomes a career of choice .
‘ Because if we don ’ t , we will lose practice nursing , lose nurses in general practice and we ’ ll lose that massive skill set that we ’ ve already got .’
Megan Ford is news editor of Nursing in Practice
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