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In a place where healthcare is consistently headline-making due the challenges in their system, nursing organizations like the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) are getting many things right.
The RCN represents over half a million nurses, student nurses, midwives and nursing support workers in the UK and internationally. As a member-led organization, like NSNU, they work collaboratively with members to influence government and other bodies, improve working conditions and campaign on issues to raise the profile of nursing in the UK.
In June, NSNU president Janet Hazelton and NSNU Researcher, Government Relations and OH&S Specialist, Justin Hiltz, along with other CFNU representatives, including Linda Silas, were again invited to the United Kingdom to discuss staffing ratios and other nursing matters.
Their exhausting agenda took them from Wales to Scotland to London where they attended the RCN Congress (the annual representative meeting of members which focuses on influencing the policy and future direction of the RCN), met with nurse leaders in that region, toured hospitals, and exchanged theories and best-practice remedies for nursing.
The Canadian contingent was met with warm hospitality as they strategized and shared ideas to make safe patient ratios a reality for all nurses, proving once again that the nursing community is global sister/brotherhood of practitioners, intent on improving work-life balance and safety for nurses.
Many of the lessons learned in the UK will be applied here at home as this province introduces Nursing Hours of Care per Patient Day (patient ratios). This approach recognizes that not all units are the same, and that different patient populations require different levels of nursing care provided by specific skill mixes while also providing a guaranteed level of nursing staff.
Nova Scotia will be the second province in Canada with language that addresses staffing shortages. Earlier this year, British Columbia became first to implement minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.
