FNF is officially launching its new Policy and Influence Think Tank on 1 October, at a prestigious event: ‘Speaking Up: Leading for Patient, Staff and Public Safety’.
The launch event is bringing together prominent figures and organisations in the nursing and midwifery professions, as well as the broader health and care sphere. With Sir Robert Francis KC as keynote speaker to start the day, the focus is firmly on safety for patients and health and care staff.
Several recent high profile independent reviews and reports have highlighted huge challenges in creating a safety culture in our health and care system, where both patients and staff can speak up. Progress has been made but there is still a long way to go. Nurses and midwives can positively drive change as part of this, provided they are enabled to lead and to share their experiences, and that we can foster a more supportive and secure environment for the whole workforce.
Other panel members and speakers throughout the FNF Think Tank launch event include Helené Donnelly, Jane Murkin, Michael West, Ed Hughes, Claire Pryor and Vinice Thomas. (See further details here.)
The new FNF Academy Policy Think Tank will bring the nursing and midwifery voice to the major health and care issues of the day and offer FNF Academy members opportunities to influence the academy’s policy and research priorities, to engage in policy and influencing work, and to develop political knowledge and influencing skills.
Participants at the launch event, taking place at Reading Town Hall, will include FNF Academy Member Chief Nurses and FNF leadership programme alumni and senior scholars, nursing and midwifery organisations and health-focused think tanks.
Professor Greta Westwood CBE, FNF’s CEO said
“We have a strong and committed community of nurse and midwife leaders who are already making changes across every aspect of health and care. Now, in our 90th anniversary year, we are drawing together that expertise and experience to strengthen our Academy with the launch of the Think Tank. This will create a platform to increase our professions’ influence on health and care policy.”Dr Lisa Plotkin, FNF‘s Head of Policy and Influence said:
“I am excited that we are launching the Policy Think Tank with such a stellar line up of speakers, panellists and attendees. The theme of the day is extremely important and relevant, and I look forward to working with the FNF Academy members, alumni and wider community to help drive forward positive change in health and care policies, and to see these benefit the nursing and midwifery professions and the communities they serve.”
During the day we will also be launching several new resources from two of our recent policy and thought leadership projects:
- Student Council Toolkit. To tackle the high attrition rates among student nurses and midwives, FNF, in partnership with HEE, took bold action by creating seven multi-professional student councils across an ICS footprint. These councils united 72 passionate students from the South-East, empowering them to speak up on the issues that matter most to students. The results were clear: these councils are a powerful force for helping students thrive, have their voices heard, and stay in the profession. We’re thrilled to launch our Student Councils Toolkit at this event, designed to inspire and equip students across the UK to create their own councils and develop future nurse and midwife leaders.
- Policy briefing: Strengthening the Clinical Educator Workforce: This briefing explores a critical yet often overlooked pillar of healthcare: the clinical educator workforce. As the NHS grapples with unprecedented demands to expand and diversify its workforce, clinical educators stand at the forefront of this monumental task. However, their pivotal role is hampered by a lack of standardisation, recognition, and support. This briefing paints a stark picture of a profession at a crossroads – one that holds the key to nurturing the next generation of healthcare professionals but struggles with its own identity and career pathways. Through extensive stakeholder engagement and analysis, it lays bare the systemic challenges faced by clinical educators, from funding disparities to the absence of board-level representation. Yet, it also offers a blueprint for transformation, proposing bold strategies to elevate the status of clinical education and unlock its full potential.
Dr Natasha North, FNF’s Director of Academy, said:
“Nurses and midwives hold a huge amount of professional knowledge and are incredible problem solvers. FNF’s Academy Members are the most senior and experienced nurses and midwives in the country. Our Policy Think Tank will involve these nursing and midwifery leaders in generating solutions to the challenges of reforming and transforming health care.”
The FNF Policy and Influence Think Tank will be working in partnership to shape the health and care policy agenda and create a future where nursing and midwifery perspectives are valued, and policies are informed by our professions’ evidence, expertise and needs.
The launch event is setting the scene and is itself providing a platform for debate on one of the key issues of the day: patient and staff safety.
Read the related blog from Professor Dame Jill Macleod Clark, Emeritus Professor at the University of Southampton and FNF trustee, on why FNF is launching a Think Tank and why now.
