Community nurses provide invaluable, expert care in households and communities throughout England. They are critical to maintaining health and supporting citizens to live well through every phase of life and have demonstrated outstanding leadership and capacity in response to the new and challenging demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. Demonstrating incredible commitment and resilience, community nurses have provided critical treatment and support to patients while also leading the way in adapting to the use of new digitally enabled technology.
Investment in the strategic development of community nursing services is essential for the successful delivery of the ambitions of the NHS Long Term Plan (NHS, 2019) and continued transformation of health and care services as integrated care systems prepare for the legislative change that will provide them with the statutory basis to achieve greater integration of health and care services; improve population health and reduce inequalities; support productivity and sustainability of services; and help the NHS to support social and economic development.
The National Community Nursing Plan 2021–2026 Engagement Document (accessible via the Future NHS Collaboration Platform) sets out how the potential that is abundant in community nursing can be realised and nurtured, so that everyone in England has the high-quality care they need, in the place they choose. The future success of community nursing should build on its existing strengths and requires the involvement of people at every level, from the public to politicians, from system leaders and educators, and across the diverse family of more than 86 000 community nurses who make up the workforce.
The ideas shared within the National Community Nursing Plan 2021–2026 Engagement Document are derived from initial engagement with more than 4000 community nurses and other stakeholders across England. Articulated as three themes with seven action areas, the plan will drive programmes of work that ensures community nursing offers attractive fulfilling and flexible careers, enables community nurses to work collaboratively to improve patient outcomes and experience, and ensures community nursing gets the full profile and recognition it deserves. The National Community Nursing Plan 2021–2026 Engagement Document provides a starting point that will be adapted in the light of wider engagement and as the needs of the community nursing workforce change over the years to come.
The National Community Nursing Plan 2021–2026 Engagement Document calls for community nurses across England to contribute to the design of the plan and its associated work programmes. You can get involved in several ways:
- Review and comment on what you have seen in the document
- Join one of the community nursing networks helping to deliver this plan, including the Practitioners Network #CNPN, Ambassadors Network #CNAN or Digital Network #CNDN. You need to be registered to the FutureNHS platform to access the workspaces; if you have an nhs.net or nhs.uk email address, you can self-register before accessing the link to the workspace. For those working outside of the NHS, please contact NationalCommunityNursing-manager@future.nhs.uk
- Share your three wishes for community nursing over the next 5 years.
To get involved, email the team at england.communitynursing@nhs.net.