Turning Ideas into Actions

The start of any new programme of work is an exciting phase when you can explore all the different ways to approach the task at hand. Transforming Perceptions of Nursing and Midwifery was no different and so, with a keen focus on engagement and inclusion, here at Horizons we felt crowd sourcing would give the best opportunity for everyone to get involved - especially as we have the national leading expert here in our Chief Transformation Officer, Helen Bevan. 

Using a Crowdicity platform https://NHS70.crowdicity.com/ we set about defining our challenges, building on work from focus groups in the summer and the following Challenges were agreed:

1. Young people in education: 

How might we encourage young children in the school system to see that nursing is a fantastic career choice?

How can teachers promote nursing and midwifery as a career choice?

2. Current Nurses and Midwives:

How do we maintain the passion that nurses and midwives feel when they first join the profession so that they continue to value their contribution to the health of the nation?

How can we maintain our own pride in this profession so that we can promote nursing and midwifery to junior colleagues and attract people to start their own journey?

3. Decision Makers in the Health and Care System

How can we change the way that nurses and midwives are recognised so that they are seen as a core profession equal to all others in healthcare?

How do we create an environment where nurses and midwives are more involved when making key decisions about health and care?

The platform went live on 15th December 2017 and closed on 29th January. Since then we have been working with a wide range of experts by experience to help make sense of what the 14,500 interactions, which generated 212 ideas, are saying. That work over February has led to the development of 'Enemies' to positive perceptions of Nursing and Midwifery and a mapping of the ideas to their "Building Block" for action.

These Enemies and Building Blocks will be launched with nearly 200 Ambassadors for Transforming Perceptions of Nursing and Midwifery, nominated by Chief Nurses or Directors of Nursing, at an action focused day on 7th March to run simultaneously with the CNO Summit. 

The Ideas channel on the Crowdicity platform will open again at this time for you to join us again with continuing to shaping these ideas into actions.