Queen's Nursing Institute plans to boost community nurses' leadership skills

The Queen’s Nursing Institute is to offer a selected number of Queen’s Nurses the chance to take a year-long leadership course. 

A network of senior community nursing leaders will also be developed.

QNI chief executive Crystal Oldman told delegates at the institute's annual conference in London the initiatives would provide essential support for community nurses in developing their leadership skills.

She said: ‘They will support a vision of the future in which nurses in the community will have the expertise appropriate for the leadership roles they will need to fulfil and to take forward future health service needs.

‘It is nurses working in community settings who will be providing the management of care. They will be leading, developing and managing cases in the community.’

England’s chief nursing officer Jane Cummings assured the conference audience that work would be done to look at safe staffing standards for community nursing. 

Ms Cummings added that a commissioning framework for community nursing is being developed. She said it would provide an insight into community nursing, show how to commission and encourage better commissioning of community and district nursing services.