The NHSE Clinical Reference Group (CRG) for congenital heart disease (CHD) and the workforce subgroup is evaluating the congenital heart disease (CHD) nursing workforce to inform an updated version of the NHSE (2016) CHD standards and service specifications and future NHSE Specialised Commissioning.
Workforce planning is the process of analysing the current workforce and determining future needs, including identifying any gaps between current and future provision (RCN Nursing Workforce Standards 2021). Furthermore, ensuring adequate Registered Nurse staffing levels in line with national recommendations has many benefits including improved recruitment and retention, reduction in staff stress and thus sickness levels, improved patient outcomes including mortality and improved levels of patient care (Royal College of Nursing, 2021).
This cross-sectional audit is to ascertain whether the national CHD service in England (across nine CHD networks) reaches a predetermined, recognised and preestablished standard in relation to the nursing workforce. We are auditing the current nursing workforce in the nine networks against the NHSE (2016) CHD standards and service specifications, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) guidance on roles, career pathways and competencies for children’s and young people’s cardiac (CYP) nurses (RCN 2021) and the adult CHD nursing guidance (RCN 2015).
Project Aims:
Does the National CHD service reach a predetermined, recognised and preestablished standard in relation to the nursing workforce?
The aims of this project are:
- to explore whether the CHD networks in England are using the RCN (2015, 2021) guidance on roles, career pathways and competency development for CYP and Adult Cardiac Nurses to guide nursing career development, alongside the NHSE (2016) standards.
- to explore the implementation consistency of nursing roles (including Lead Nurse, Nurse Educator, Nurse Specialists, Advanced Practitioner. Consultant Nurse) across the CHD networks in England.
- to evaluate the CYP and Adult CHD nursing workforce in England, current gaps and what succession planning has taken place (or is planned) across the CHD networks.
Project Team:
- Dr Petra Jenkins. Consultant Cardiologist in Adult CHD. NHSE CHD Clinical Reference Group (chair of workforce group)
- Mrs Terry Phillips, CHD Network Manager, North-East, North Cumbria CHD Network
- Anna Dinsdale, Lead Nurse in Adult Congenital Heart Disease (GUCH), Barts Heart Centre at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital
- Kaye Walsh, Lead Nurse North-East, North Cumbria CHD Network
- Professor Kerry Gaskin, BCU
Project Impact:
The findings will inform development of an updated future nursing workforce plan for CHD networks across England, which will also inform the NHSE standards and NHSE Specialised Commissioning, which will soon be updated.
Contact:
For more information on the research project, please contact Kerry.gaskin2@bcu.ac.uk.