More than 1,400 nursing staff work across the Bon Secours Health System group and it has now written a new road map for what nursing care could and should look like in today's world.
Its new nursing strategy, “Unity in Diversity – Nursing Care Strategic Framework 2019-2024”, was launched last year and seeks to present a long-term vision for nursing care based on the new realities of healthcare.
The BSHS’s director of nursing, Mairead Carr, says the strategy is a forward-thinking framework based on the quality nursing care the hospital group provides to thousands of patients every day.
“It’s easy to say we do a good job, but the goal of strategy development was to stop and think about what it is we are trying to achieve and perhaps change habits. We wanted to see if there is a better way of doing things.”
Nursing now operates in a global market, and Carr says one of the goals of the strategy was to formally acknowledge this. “We are no longer just looking at the national picture – Irish nurses are going abroad and other nurses are coming into Ireland. The European Commission recently estimated that there will be a shortfall of 600,000 nurses and midwives across Europe, so we need to be aware of that.”
What sets this strategy apart is that it encompasses all staff who play a role in nursing care, including healthcare assistants and operating department practitioners.
“From the outset we sat down to look at the role of all team members,” says Carr. “We all work together as a team and when you are delivering care to patients every day of the week, ensuring a cohesive team is a great start to make improvements that will reflect the goals of empowered staff delivering safe quality care.”
Healthcare assistants
For example, the strategy outlines a programme for education of healthcare assistants so that their contribution can be maximised as well as the goal of being a recognised leader for professional development to enable staff to reach their potential, she adds.
The strategy also seeks to balance the personal lives of their nursing staff with the demands of the relentless healthcare setting.
“The world we live in these days is fast paced. We are trying to provide for safe staffing on one hand but on the other hand we are trying to be cognisant of the fact that people want a work-life balance,” Carr says.
Prior to the strategy being drawn up, staff across the hospital group’s five sites were asked for their input. The message was clear, says Carr. “Without fail, on every site, staff were looking for a way to measure patient acuity. Healthcare has changed over the years and patients don’t tend to stay in hospital for as long now; we have an ageing population and people are living with comorbidities, making care more complex. Staff were asking for objective ways of measuring this, so that our staffing matches the requirements of the patients.”
‘Incremental changes’
The ambitious strategy will not be achieved overnight. Carr says the hospital group is looking at making “incremental changes” over the next four to five years. The strategy is also consciously progressive, as the faith-based organisation strives to move with the times.
“We have a reputation here at the Bon for providing excellent nursing care and what we want to look at in the future is how we provide that in a more diverse world,” Carr explains.
“We want to look at how we deliver care to all irrespective of the patient or staff’s background, but do it creatively and with an awareness of that diversity.”
To view the new strategic framework visit www.bonsecours.ie/news/bon-secours-health-system-nursing-strategy-conference