New Standards for General Practice Nurses Launched

The QNI and QNI Scotland launched new Voluntary Standards for senior General Practice Nurses (GPNs) at the QNI conference in London on Tuesday.

The new standards aim to identify the key aspects of the senior GPN role and reflect the breadth of competence required to manage and deliver high quality, person centred care as the leader of a nursing team.

The Standards have been developed with leading experts from across the UK to help support senior General Practice Nurses, focusing on the level 6 role. Nurses themselves will be able to map their own skills and knowledge against the Standards, and collaborate with education providers in developing course content.

The project, led by Mary Saunders, followed the development of voluntary standards published for District Nursing in 2015 and also responds to the QNI’s research into the current GPN role published in 2016. The new Voluntary Standards do not replace the NMC’s statutory standards, but are intended to augment and update these to reflect current education and practice requirements to support the key leadership role in new models of primary care.

QNI chief executive Dr Crystal Oldman commented, ‘The specialist expertise of the General Practice Nursing service has come into sharper focus in recent years, as the policy agenda seeks to move more healthcare into the community, with many  GP practices forming federations, hubs and clusters. Senior GPNs are now undertaking many areas of work that were traditionally reserved to GPs and there are increasing opportunities available to them for the leadership and management of a varied nursing team, as the NHS pioneers new models of care in the community.’

Clare Cable, QNIS Chief Executive and Nurse Director, said:

The QNI and QNIS have worked together to ensure that views from the four countries of the UK have shaped this work.

‘Whilst the contexts we work in are significantly different, at the heart of these standards is high quality person-centred care and we hope that this work will provide important contribution to strategic discussions UK-wide.’

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The new Voluntary Standards will be available to download at: https://qni.org.uk/explore-qni/policy-practice/general-practice-nurse-standards/