COMMENT
196
NHS Change Day: nurses driving the silent revolution
T
alk of NHS reform has never been far from the headlines in the past few years. The massive systemic re-organisation, famously described by NHS Chief Executive Sir David Nicholson as ‘so big, you can see it from space’, has had its fair share of critics, with many nurses among them. But whatever the rights and wrongs of the policy shift, it is quite possible that another, altogether more subtle, reform programme has been gathering pace below the radar—with nurses very much in the driving seat. Back in 2012, a group of young doctors met to discuss how those who really cared about the NHS could be engaged to help improve it. Their conversation spread to social networks and before long it had snowballed into an emerging social movement—powered by a generation of emerging leaders keen to make their mark on the services that will one day be entrusted to them. Like the famous story of the Pied Piper, the movement began to attract followers from across the NHS and social care. By the spring of 2013, it had evolved into NHS Change Day, the single biggest simultaneous improvement event in the NHS to date. Nearly 200 000 pledges—each promising to do one small thing to improve patient care—were registered by NHS staff and supporters all over the country. Since then, the movement has gathered pace, with nurses at the forefront of its development. Tom Lindley, a mental health nurse and active member of the Change Day movement, explained: ‘The sheer momentum created by Change Day took everyone by surprise. It clearly hit a nerve among professionals like me who were living through a massive time of change and wanted to take control of our own little bit of the NHS for the benefit of patients. ‘Last year, the response from nurses was amazing. Staff from all over the country used Change Day as a sort of collective permission to try and change some of the things that really frustrated them about the NHS. ‘There are certainly no shortage of these in nursing so, as a profession, we were well represented. This year, for NHS Change Day 2014, we have an even better chance to start to tackle those little niggles head on, or to try something we’ve always wanted to do but never had a good enough reason.’ The thousands of nursing pledges in 2013 included: ■■ A group of nurses who created a virtual ward so that they could show colleagues how it really felt to be a patient—an initiative that has now been included in the local training curriculum ■■ A regional pledge to increase the number of student nurses being given placements with practice nurses ■■ Collective pledges to create new protocols to ensure
pain and comfort are included in patient handovers and acted on ■■ Simple promises to spend more time eating a meal with patients. Nurse pledges already registered on the Change Day website (www.changeday.nhs.uk) this year include: ■■ Spreading the word on how to stop pressure ulcers ■■ Promising not be afraid to challenge the status quo ■■ Supporting others in their commitment to being ambassadors of the ‘6 Cs’ in their areas ■■ Making sure everyone is offered personal care help at a time that suits them, not just when routines could or would suggest ■■ Always making sure that patients receive help eating their meals ■■ Publicly displaying nursing performance and progress against action plans for every ward. Pollyanna Jones, a regulatory performance manager at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and one of the emerging leaders at the heart of the Change Day movement, said: ‘As in any organisation, of course there are areas where the NHS can do better. Some cynics believe that the examples of bad care that they read about in the media mean that the NHS is beyond repair—but Change Day shows that there are many thousands of us who don’t share that view. ‘It was inspirational and overwhelming to see how many people wanted to get on board with Change Day. Groups of nurses became more in tune with patients after turning the tables and experiencing what it felt like to be in a hospital bed, while in primary care, GP surgery staff became more engaged after turning their surgery screens off and speaking directly with patients for a day.’ One of the great things about Change Day, according to those early Twitter pioneers, is that its power comes from the grassroots: there is no ‘top-down’ mandate to tell people what to do—or, crucially, what not to do. The movement is entirely voluntary and is shaped not by managers or politicians, but by frontline staff who believe that the best chance to improve the NHS in the long term comes from within. For more information, together with a range of tools and tips on how to get the most out of Change Day for you, your patients, your colleagues and your organisation, go to www.changeday.nhs.uk You can also join the Change Day conversation on Twitter using #nhschangeday or on Facebook at BJN www.facebook.com/NHSChangeDay. Tom Lindley Commercial and Innovation Manager at NHS England (and former mental health staff nurse)
© 2014 MA Healthcare Ltd
Editorial Board David Aldulaimi, Consultant Physician and Gastroenterologist, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust Palo Almond, Academic and Research Consultant, Anglia Ruskin University Irene Anderson, Prinicipal Lecturer and Reader in Learning and Teaching in Healthcare Practice, University of Hertfordshire Russell Ashmore, Senior Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing, Sheffield Hallam University Steve Ashurst, Critical Care Nurse Lecturer, Maelor Hospital, Wrexham Christopher Barber, Residential Nurse Dimitri Beeckman, Lecturer and Researcher, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, King’s College London Lizzy Bernthal, Research Fellow and Lead Nursing Lecturer, Medical Directorate, Birmingham, Honorary Research Fellow University of Southampton. Martyn Bradbury, Clinical Skills Network Lead, University of Plymouth Emma Collins, Senior Sister, Practice Development Lead, Claude Nicol Clinic, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Alison Coull, Lecturer, Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Stirling, Scotland David Delaney, Charge Nurse, Clinical Research, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Jane Fox, Independent Consultant, Derbyshire Alan Glasper, Professor of Child Health Nursing, University of Southampton Angela Grainger, Assistant Director of Nursing, King’s College Hospital NHS Trust, London Michelle Grainger, Ward Manager, Moseley Hall Hospital, Birmingham Helen Holder, Senior Lecturer, Nursing Studies, Birmingham City University Mina Karamshi, Specialist Sister in Radiology, Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead Joanne McPeake, Acute Specialist Nurse/Senior Staff Nurse in Critical Care; Honourary Lecturer/Practitioner in Critical Care, University of Glasgow Andrew McVicar, Reader, Dept of Mental Health & Learning Disabilities, Anglia Ruskin University Danny Meetoo, Lecturer in Adult Nursing, University of Salford Mervyn Morris, Director, Centre for Mental Health Policy, Birmingham City University Aru Narayanasamy, Associate Professor, University of Nottingham Ann Norman, RCN Criminal Justice Services Nursing Adviser and Learning Disability Nursing Adviser (U.K) Joy Notter, Professor, Birmingham City University, UK & Saxion University of Applied Science, NL Hilary Paniagua, Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Wolverhampton Ian Peate, Head of School, Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, Thames Valley University Bernadette Porter, Nurse Consultant, Multiple Sclerosis, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, UCLH NHS Trust John Tingle, HRS Reader in Health Law, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University Geoffrey Walker, Matron for Medicine, Cardiology and Specialist Nursing Services Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Catherine Whitmore, Research Nurse, Diabetes and Endocrinology, University of Liverpool Jo Wilson, Director, Wilson Healthcare Services, Newcastle Cate Wood, Lecturer, Bournemouth University, PhD student at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Sue Woodward, Lecturer, Specialist and Palliative Care, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London
British Journal of Nursing, 2014, Vol 23, No 4
British Journal of Nursing. Downloaded from magonlinelibrary.com by 041.190.174.066 on October 19, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. . All rights reserved.
196
NHS Change Day: nurses driving the silent revolution
T
alk of NHS reform has never been far from the headlines in the past few years. The massive systemic re-organisation, famously described by NHS Chief Executive Sir David Nicholson as ‘so big, you can see it from space’, has had its fair share of critics, with many nurses among them. But whatever the rights and wrongs of the policy shift, it is quite possible that another, altogether more subtle, reform programme has been gathering pace below the radar—with nurses very much in the driving seat. Back in 2012, a group of young doctors met to discuss how those who really cared about the NHS could be engaged to help improve it. Their conversation spread to social networks and before long it had snowballed into an emerging social movement—powered by a generation of emerging leaders keen to make their mark on the services that will one day be entrusted to them. Like the famous story of the Pied Piper, the movement began to attract followers from across the NHS and social care. By the spring of 2013, it had evolved into NHS Change Day, the single biggest simultaneous improvement event in the NHS to date. Nearly 200 000 pledges—each promising to do one small thing to improve patient care—were registered by NHS staff and supporters all over the country. Since then, the movement has gathered pace, with nurses at the forefront of its development. Tom Lindley, a mental health nurse and active member of the Change Day movement, explained: ‘The sheer momentum created by Change Day took everyone by surprise. It clearly hit a nerve among professionals like me who were living through a massive time of change and wanted to take control of our own little bit of the NHS for the benefit of patients. ‘Last year, the response from nurses was amazing. Staff from all over the country used Change Day as a sort of collective permission to try and change some of the things that really frustrated them about the NHS. ‘There are certainly no shortage of these in nursing so, as a profession, we were well represented. This year, for NHS Change Day 2014, we have an even better chance to start to tackle those little niggles head on, or to try something we’ve always wanted to do but never had a good enough reason.’ The thousands of nursing pledges in 2013 included: ■■ A group of nurses who created a virtual ward so that they could show colleagues how it really felt to be a patient—an initiative that has now been included in the local training curriculum ■■ A regional pledge to increase the number of student nurses being given placements with practice nurses ■■ Collective pledges to create new protocols to ensure
pain and comfort are included in patient handovers and acted on ■■ Simple promises to spend more time eating a meal with patients. Nurse pledges already registered on the Change Day website (www.changeday.nhs.uk) this year include: ■■ Spreading the word on how to stop pressure ulcers ■■ Promising not be afraid to challenge the status quo ■■ Supporting others in their commitment to being ambassadors of the ‘6 Cs’ in their areas ■■ Making sure everyone is offered personal care help at a time that suits them, not just when routines could or would suggest ■■ Always making sure that patients receive help eating their meals ■■ Publicly displaying nursing performance and progress against action plans for every ward. Pollyanna Jones, a regulatory performance manager at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and one of the emerging leaders at the heart of the Change Day movement, said: ‘As in any organisation, of course there are areas where the NHS can do better. Some cynics believe that the examples of bad care that they read about in the media mean that the NHS is beyond repair—but Change Day shows that there are many thousands of us who don’t share that view. ‘It was inspirational and overwhelming to see how many people wanted to get on board with Change Day. Groups of nurses became more in tune with patients after turning the tables and experiencing what it felt like to be in a hospital bed, while in primary care, GP surgery staff became more engaged after turning their surgery screens off and speaking directly with patients for a day.’ One of the great things about Change Day, according to those early Twitter pioneers, is that its power comes from the grassroots: there is no ‘top-down’ mandate to tell people what to do—or, crucially, what not to do. The movement is entirely voluntary and is shaped not by managers or politicians, but by frontline staff who believe that the best chance to improve the NHS in the long term comes from within. For more information, together with a range of tools and tips on how to get the most out of Change Day for you, your patients, your colleagues and your organisation, go to www.changeday.nhs.uk You can also join the Change Day conversation on Twitter using #nhschangeday or on Facebook at BJN www.facebook.com/NHSChangeDay. Tom Lindley Commercial and Innovation Manager at NHS England (and former mental health staff nurse)
© 2014 MA Healthcare Ltd
Editorial Board David Aldulaimi, Consultant Physician and Gastroenterologist, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust Palo Almond, Academic and Research Consultant, Anglia Ruskin University Irene Anderson, Prinicipal Lecturer and Reader in Learning and Teaching in Healthcare Practice, University of Hertfordshire Russell Ashmore, Senior Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing, Sheffield Hallam University Steve Ashurst, Critical Care Nurse Lecturer, Maelor Hospital, Wrexham Christopher Barber, Residential Nurse Dimitri Beeckman, Lecturer and Researcher, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, King’s College London Lizzy Bernthal, Research Fellow and Lead Nursing Lecturer, Medical Directorate, Birmingham, Honorary Research Fellow University of Southampton. Martyn Bradbury, Clinical Skills Network Lead, University of Plymouth Emma Collins, Senior Sister, Practice Development Lead, Claude Nicol Clinic, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Alison Coull, Lecturer, Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Stirling, Scotland David Delaney, Charge Nurse, Clinical Research, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Jane Fox, Independent Consultant, Derbyshire Alan Glasper, Professor of Child Health Nursing, University of Southampton Angela Grainger, Assistant Director of Nursing, King’s College Hospital NHS Trust, London Michelle Grainger, Ward Manager, Moseley Hall Hospital, Birmingham Helen Holder, Senior Lecturer, Nursing Studies, Birmingham City University Mina Karamshi, Specialist Sister in Radiology, Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead Joanne McPeake, Acute Specialist Nurse/Senior Staff Nurse in Critical Care; Honourary Lecturer/Practitioner in Critical Care, University of Glasgow Andrew McVicar, Reader, Dept of Mental Health & Learning Disabilities, Anglia Ruskin University Danny Meetoo, Lecturer in Adult Nursing, University of Salford Mervyn Morris, Director, Centre for Mental Health Policy, Birmingham City University Aru Narayanasamy, Associate Professor, University of Nottingham Ann Norman, RCN Criminal Justice Services Nursing Adviser and Learning Disability Nursing Adviser (U.K) Joy Notter, Professor, Birmingham City University, UK & Saxion University of Applied Science, NL Hilary Paniagua, Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Wolverhampton Ian Peate, Head of School, Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, Thames Valley University Bernadette Porter, Nurse Consultant, Multiple Sclerosis, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, UCLH NHS Trust John Tingle, HRS Reader in Health Law, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University Geoffrey Walker, Matron for Medicine, Cardiology and Specialist Nursing Services Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Catherine Whitmore, Research Nurse, Diabetes and Endocrinology, University of Liverpool Jo Wilson, Director, Wilson Healthcare Services, Newcastle Cate Wood, Lecturer, Bournemouth University, PhD student at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Sue Woodward, Lecturer, Specialist and Palliative Care, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London
British Journal of Nursing, 2014, Vol 23, No 4
British Journal of Nursing. Downloaded from magonlinelibrary.com by 041.190.174.066 on October 19, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. . All rights reserved.
