Strategic Plan 2021-25

Context for the Development of the QNI Strategic Plan 2021 to 2025

The Impact of the Pandemic

The development of the QNI’s new Strategic Plan took place during 2020, at the same time as the full effects of the Coronavirus pandemic were impacting on health services, nurses and those they care for in the UK.

In the course of 2020, the mode of health care delivery and the work of nurses has changed almost beyond recognition compared to the years preceding it, and the pace of change in models of care delivery has been unprecedented.  There is no frame of reference among nurses today – or the population generally – for the management of such a virulent infectious disease. However, since the start of the pandemic, technology to support care has been rapidly embraced and information productively shared between services to enhance the experience of all citizens.

Nurses are highly adaptable and have made fundamental changes, at pace and at scale, to meet these new and challenging situations. The QNI is extremely concerned though about the current and long-term impact of the pandemic on the mental and emotional health of those staff delivering care to people with Covid-19. We continue to develop our response to this challenge.

The Context of Care Delivery

Nurses do not work in isolation – they are part of a highly skilled multidisciplinary team, including doctors, allied health professionals, healthcare assistants and a diversity of other specialists. However, nurses comprise the single largest part of the healthcare workforce and are the professionals who provide the largest component of face to face care to the population, often providing a key coordination role in care across health and social care services. As such their role is essential to the safety of the communities they serve, while the team approach ensures that holistic and effective care is given, including a growing role for self-care, where appropriate.

Our belief is that people receiving care – and their families – deserve to have choices about where they receive their care, and this includes the place where they live – be that a private home, a nursing home, temporary accommodation, or a clinic to treat those with no home.

Striving for Equality and Inclusivity

The QNI has always worked to ensure that its policies and programmes are equitable and inclusive. In 2020, in response to global events and rising awareness about racial discrimination, staff and trustees have acknowledged that a deeper and more systematic review of all of our activities is needed, to ensure that all QNI programmes reflect the full and rich diversity of the community nursing workforce in the UK.

The Nursing Voice

The QNI seeks to raise the profile and the voice of nurses serving their communities because we, and nurses themselves, are consistently presented with evidence that the community nursing perspective is not heard during the development of health policy and of care planning and delivery. If this voice is not heard, it is impossible for healthcare services to reach their full potential.

In our new strategy (2021-25) you will see how we have reflected and responded to the context of care in which nurses work in the community and their impact on the communities they serve.

Download the QNI Strategic Plan below: