The President of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI), Essene Cassidy has praised all those involved in the organisation’s inaugural Summer Series events in June, declaring them a “huge success” for the professions.

NMBI co-hosted four events at college campuses focusing on different nursing divisions of the Register. A fifth event focused entirely on midwifery will be held later in the year.

The Summer Series – Discussions about Nursing and Midwifery by Nurses and Midwives – was designed to bring clinical and academic professionals and service users together to discuss the state of the professions and progress for the future.

Events were held at University College Cork (UCC) on children’s nursing, the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) Athlone campus on general nursing, St Angela’s College Sligo on intellectual disability nursing and at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Letterkenny campus on mental health nursing. Each event was co-designed with the input of the college leadership teams.

A separate community event was also held in Dublin at the end of June, bringing together community nursing and midwifery leaders as well as stakeholders to discuss expanding partnerships and cooperation.

NMBI President, Ms Cassidy said: “Each division-specific Summer Series conversation was rewarding, informative and really enjoyable. These sessions gave us all, as professionals, an opportunity to debate and discuss issues relevant to each division, the context of where care is being delivered and look to the future identifying the opportunities that lie ahead.  

“I was moved by so many speakers at each of our evening discussions and was struck by the compassion and care shown by our registrants in different healthcare settings including in the community and the passion they have for their profession.

“I want to thank each of the colleges for co-hosting the events with us and for the dedication and time they showed in the planning of the inaugural Summer Series. I also want to thank NMBI staff for their roles in each event. It was a truly remarkable series which made me proud of our professions.”

Frank Feighan, Minister of State at the Department of Health, attended the discussion at St Angela’s College and addressed those watching the event in-person and online.

The Minister also praised NMBI for the Summer Series initiative.

“The provision of NMBI’s Summer Series events for the different disciplines of nursing and midwifery professions across the country is welcomed by me, the Chief Nurse and everyone in the Department of Health,” said Minister Feighan.

“By undertaking the Summer Series initiative, NMBI has showcased the work being carried out by the Board, and the wider health service, by nurses and midwives, in supporting the implementation of the Sláintecare strategy.”

NMBI CEO, Sheila McClelland, Head of Operations, Kathyann Barrett, Director of Education, Policy and Standards, Carolyn Donohoe, Director of Registration, Ray Healy and Director of Fitness to Practise, Colm O’Leary attended the Summer Series discussions.

Provisional data from the MyNMBI online annual renewal system was shared with the different divisions of the nursing register at each event.

CEO Ms McClelland also praised the colleges and all those who took part in each event.

“The idea of the Summer Series was to engage with our registrants about their practice now in 2022, to listen to them and to guide us on the future direction of NMBI,” said Ms McClelland.

“Now that we have held our inaugural Summer Series we will plan to do similar events at different venues next year as part of an ongoing engagement with our stakeholders and in particular our registrants.

“The NMBI team thoroughly enjoyed each of the discussions in Cork, Athlone, Sligo and Letterkenny. As an organisation, NMBI took away so much from what we heard.”

NMBI’s Director of Education, Policy and Standards, Carolyn Donohoe, said the 2022 Summer Series had created a unique opportunity for the regulator to enhance engagement with both registrants and third level institutions.

“The education department I lead at NMBI sets the standards and requirements for dozens of different courses for nurses and midwives at our higher education institutions across Ireland and the Summer Series presented an opportunity to have in-person conversations with our academic partners on the future direction of our professions,” said Ms Donohoe.

“It was refreshing to hear from nurses at different stages in their careers, from students right through to those who are continuing to develop professionally at the highest level. They all gave inspirational testimonies on their career pathways and how that is enhancing healthcare by nurses today in Ireland.

“I would like to thank all the colleges once again for all their cooperation, advice and leadership shown during the NMBI Summer Series of 2022. We are already looking forward to another series of events in 2023.”

Chief Nursing Officer, Rachel Kenna provided a video address for each event and noted that the Summer Series was an excellent opportunity to place the spotlight on the different divisions of the register. She welcomed the series and hoped that NMBI and the professions could build on it into the future, adding: “My experience has always been that when you put nurses or midwives together in a room for a discussion, there are always positive outcomes.”

NMBI’s co-hosted Dublin community nursing event with nurses, midwives and stakeholders on 28 June has also been praised by those who took part. A full report on that event is included in this eZine.

The first of NMBI’s Summer Series events was hosted by the School of Nursing at University College Cork and focused on the theme Children’s Nursing in the Community – Care Closer to Home.

Nursing school lead Margaret Curtin and senior colleagues worked tirelessly with NMBI to come up with a superb programme for the evening which was opened by the President of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI), Essene Cassidy.

NMBI Director of Education, Policy and Standards, Carolyn Donohoe, presented NMBI demographics to the audience. Particularly striking was the gender imbalance within Children’s Nursing and the geographical distribution of children’s nurses within Ireland. On 1 June 2022, there were 4,982 nurses on the children’s division of the register. Of these, 3,371 are currently practising in the area. The majority of these are female, with only 78 male children’s nurses. The disparity between the genders is high in the children’s division 

UCC Head of School of Nursing and Midwifery, Professor Josephine Hegarty, presented the college’s strategic direction to the audience, particularly within the health context. She highlighted the great shifts in healthcare over the last 70 years and that the future will focus on the community and the home as the primary location of care.

“The future of health care is moving from curative to preventative, and we need to be preparing our nursing graduates for same,” she said.

Rosemarie Sheehan, Assistant Director of Nursing at Children’s Health Ireland, chaired a very topical panel discussion. Each panellist had experience of children’s nursing from a different perspective.

NMBI would like to sincerely thank UCC for their input into the evening’s programme and for hosting the event.

You can read a full report from the UCC event and see more pictures on the NMBI website.

Photography by Gerard McCarthy Photography

The second NMBI Summer Series event was hosted at the Department of Nursing at the TUS campus in Athlone.

The event was opened by NMBI President, Essene Cassidy who thanked TUS Head of Department, Dr Des Cawley for his work with NMBI in designing the programme for discussion and co-hosting the event.

Dr Ray Healy, Director of Registration at NMBI, presented data from the MyNMBI online registration system and shared statistics on the general nursing division, as well as details on the number of nurses practising in Midlands counties.

The format for the Athlone discussion involved two panels.

One panel held a fascinating discussion on Nursing Leadership in the Midlands – Undergraduate and Beyond while a second panel examined: ‘Evolution of Advanced Practice and Specialist Nursing Roles in the Midlands’.

NMBI CEO, Sheila McClelland recalled afterwards a comment that had been made during the pandemic that “leaders jumped out of everywhere” including among students. She thanked everyone who took part in the discussions and encouraged everyone to contribute to the NMBI Statement of Strategy 2023-25 when it goes to public consultation later this year.

NMBI would like to sincerely thank Dr Cawley and his team for their role in designing the discussion programme and for hosting the event.

You can read a full report on the TUS Athlone event on the NMBI website.

The event was also recorded by the TUS team and you can view it online here.

Photography by Nathan Cafolla

The NMBI Summer Series event co-hosted with St Angela’s College in Sligo was focused on Intellectual Disability Nursing, with the theme ‘An Evolving Practice’.

CEO of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI), Sheila McClelland, began proceedings by welcoming all attendees to the third NMBI Summer Series event which was also livestreamed to an online audience. An Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreter was also provided.

NMBI President, Essene Cassidy also welcomed all attendees to the Sligo event, saying the discussions at each event had been organic and allowed to develop.

She also acknowledged and thanked everyone involved in the organisation of the event, in particular Dr Evelyn McManus, Acting Head of School of Nursing, Health Sciences and Disability. A special welcome was afforded to Minister Frank Feighan and Professor Ruth Northway from the Faculty of Life Sciences and Education, University of Wales.

NMBI Director of Education, Policy and Standards, Carolyn Donohoe, presented NMBI demographics to attendees.

Seamus Dolan, Lecturer, Department of Nursing, Health Studies and Disability Studies, chaired an enlightening panel discussion. Each panellist had the experience of intellectual disability nursing from a different perspective including self-advocates Tomás Murphy and Margaret Turley.

NMBI and St Angela’s College were delighted that Ruth Northway, a professor of Learning Disability Nursing at the Faculty of Life Sciences and Education University of South Wales, was able to travel to Sligo for the discussion.

Special guest Minister Frank Feighan praised the interesting and informative discussion.

The Minister said RNIDs had a unique role and are ideally placed to support complicated care in the community during stages of life, to ensure the full potential of the individual is realised. RNIDs enable the voice of people with intellectual disabilities to be heard when accessing care, he said.

Ms McClelland thanked all those who took part in the discussion, acknowledging that service users need to be a continuous part of how RNIDs evaluate services. She also referred to comments by Tomás Murphy, who said services and society are continuously changing and everyone involved in nursing needed to be cognisant of that.

NMBI would like to thank Dr McManus and her senior team for their role in designing the programme for the evening, and for hosting the event on their campus.

You can read a full report on the St Angela’s Summer Series event here.

Photography by James Connolly / Picsell8 Photography

The final Summer Series event took place at ATU’s Letterkenny campus with the Head of Department of Nursing and Health Care, ATU Donegal, Dr Louise McBride acting as MC for the evening. Dr McBride played a leading role in designing the format of the event.

The President of ATU, Dr Orla Flynn opened the mental health and wellness event and acknowledged students, colleagues and wider stakeholder participation. Dr Flynn highlighted the importance of research and ATU’s strengths in this area.

NMBI Director of Registration, Dr Ray Healy, presented the NMBI psychiatric nursing division demographics to the crowd. He drew attention to the numbers of patient-facing registrants and the age categories of these. Gender disparities are smaller with this division in comparison to others, but males remain the minority.

Panellists from different perspectives on mental health and wellbeing presented details of their work in different settings in the North West. This included Michelle Murray RPN, Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) Donegal Mental Health Services, who spoke of her role on the assessment and management of self-harm in the emergency department at Letterkenny University Hospital.

The keynote address on the evening was delivered by John Meehan, Assistant National Director and Head of the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) who acknowledged all panel members and commented on each presentation. Mr Meehan presented an overview of the mental health strategies from 2005-2022 and focused on Connecting for Life and Sharing the Vision. He said his office has implemented data sharing with An Garda Siochana and the HSE to identify suicide related incidents for further investigation.

A number of speakers emphasised that mental health services are continuing to evolve with the involvement of the profession. Mental health is everyone and for all, from the chronic to the lesser affected, was a common theme. Concern was expressed that mental health nurses should also take care of themselves and should be encouraged to attend wellness programmes.

NMBI President, Essene Cassidy brought the event, and the Summer Series, to a close by thanking all partners for co-hosting. She complimented each of the speakers for their input into the evening’s discussion in Letterkenny and thanked Dr McBride, who is also Vice-President of NMBI, for her role and support.

NMBI wishes to acknowledge the role of Dr McBride and her team for their input into the evening’s programme. We would like to also thank everyone at the Letterkenny campus for hosting the event.

You can read a more extensive report on the ATU Donegal event on the NMBI website.

Photography by Brian McDaid Photography

A community nursing discussion event in north Dublin co-hosted by NMBI has been hailed a success.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) President Essene Cassidy worked with colleagues in the Dublin North City and County (CHO DNCC) community health organisation to discuss the topic: Nurses & Midwives Expanding Partnership in the Community.

Ms Cassidy is Head of Older Persons Services in the same area, responsible for the development of the Integrated Care Programme for Older Persons (ICPOP) specialist teams as part of the roll-out of Enhanced Community Care (ECC).

The well-attended event on 28 June was hosted in the newly renovated Lecture Hall at the St Mary’s Hospital Campus in Phoenix Park.

More than 80 attendees from across north Dublin and further afield included nurses and midwives from public health (PHNs), community nurses, community mental health, community midwives, intellectual disability, social inclusion, general practice, infection control and health and safety.

Also in attendance were Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Candidate ANPs, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Practice Development coordinators and Project Officers from the North Dublin Nursing and Midwifery Practice Development Unit (NMPDU) which contributed to great discussions.

Stakeholders, including representatives from Pavee Point Travellers Centre, the Office of Nursing and Midwifery Service Directorate (ONMSD) and the Chief Nurses Office in the Department of Health also took part.

NMBI Director of Education, Policy and Standards, Carolyn Donohoe, presented the latest data from the NMBI Register on public health nurses, community nurses and community nurses in the Dublin area.

Ms Cassidy provided a context and overview of CHO DNCC, highlighting the span from childhood and early years interventions to complex adult and older person care, the challenges faced and services provided to the population of north Dublin.

The attendees were assigned to groups, with each group given a scenario to consider. All groups were asked to discuss the governance issues and unique contribution of nursing/midwifery in each scenario. The groups provided their insights and proposals for potential improvements.

Attendees noted the importance of having ongoing networking sessions, and that it was vitally important that they are aware of the roles and services provided by other nurses and midwives.

Ms Cassidy said: “It was a fantastic event and it was great to see nurses and midwives from across our CHO collaborating and sharing experience and learnings which will benefit patient care.

“There was a great energy in the room. I have received a huge amount of positive feedback from attendees who were delighted to meet the regulator and to be heard and to work together across divisions keeping the patient, their families and communities needs at the centre. This is the core of what community care is all about.”

NMBI CEO Sheila McClelland hailed the event a success, adding: “I want to thank everyone who took part in this discussion event. It was a hugely valuable afternoon, with great learning for NMBI and the community nurses in the room as a result of the discussions.”

Photography by Maxwell Photography

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) launched the Fifth Edition of its Midwife Registration Programmes Standards and Requirements during an online event in early June.

NMBI CEO, Sheila McClelland spoke at the launch event, which was attended by 60 academic and clinical midwifery leaders from across Ireland. Ms McClelland highlighted the importance of standards and requirements for education bodies providing midwifery education programmes. She also thanked all those who had helped to develop the document including the NMBI Midwives Committee and NMBI’s Director of Midwifery Dawn Johnston.

Ms Johnston highlighted the main changes to the new edition. She was keen to note that these standards and requirements are now aligned, where possible, with the Nurse Registration Programmes Standards and Requirements. There are new updates to the ICM definition of a midwife within the document and Section 3 was extended from five headings to seven. The ratio of lecturer to student was defined along with details on grievance policies. The site inspection report has been standardised across site inspections and includes sections on commendations, conditions and recommendations.

Portiuncula University Hospital Director of Midwifery, Deirdre Naughton provided insight into how the standards and requirements had worked during the site inspection process as she had been a member of the inspector panel for some time and could advocate for the improvement.

She told colleagues that the partnership approach was a welcome initiative from the healthcare partners during inspection. She also briefly outlined what an inspector would now look for.

“The ability for education bodies and healthcare partners to showcase developments and the opportunity for acknowledgement of the wider team and their contributions has been a refreshing outcome of the new process,” said Ms Naughton.

A number of those in attendance commended the Board on the consultation and proof of concept process that was conducted at the start of the project. The session concluded with some brief questions and answers.

Members of the senior management team at the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) have met with leaders in the professions from Romania as part of support for a leadership programme.

CEO Sheila McClelland, Director of Education, Policy and Standards Carolyn Donohoe and Director of Registration Ray Healy were invited to talk about the work of the regulator on three different days in May.

The meetings followed engagement between the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) Mircea Timofte, President, Romanian Council of Nurses and Government Chief Nursing Officer to develop a leadership programme for Directors of Nursing and Chief Nurses in Romania.

This programme was developed in conjunction the Executive Office of the Order of General Nurses, Midwives and Nurses in Romania and aims to empower senior leaders in Romania to advance the professions and practice of nursing and midwifery.

The programme is based on the philosophy that high-quality, safe, and continually improved health care is dependent on efficient and effective leadership at local, national and international levels, and that nurses and midwives can and should play an increasingly influential leadership role at all levels. 

As part of this programme, over three weeks in May, 45 senior nurse leaders from Romania attended a two-day workshop in RCSI to learn first-hand about nursing and midwifery leadership in Ireland across the domains of policy, practice, education and research.

Delegates heard from NMBI, and also from colleagues from the WHO, the National Clinical Leadership Centre for Nursing and Midwifery, the Office of the Chief Nurse, clinical colleagues based in Beaumont Hospital, the European Centre for Research Excellence in CPD based in the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Older Persons Services, the National Critical Care Programme, the Irish Association of Directors of Nursing and Midwifery, and the RCSI Hospital Group amongst others.

The delegation was also visited by His Excellency Dr Laurenţiu-Mihai Ştefan, Romanian Ambassador to Ireland.

NMBI Director Carolyn Donohoe said: “NMBI is always keen to learn about best practice in other countries and is also keen to share the Irish perspective of the professions with other countries, in particular with colleagues from other European Union countries.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) was represented this month at the 6th Sigma Biennial European Conference, which took place in RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences.

NMBI representatives joined colleagues from across Europe and wider afield to discuss the ways in which nurses and midwives are at the forefront of global efforts to improve and enhance healthcare delivery.

NMBI’s Head of Operations, Kathyann Barrett said: “We were delighted to be part of this conference which brought together leaders in the fields of nursing and midwifery and showcased cutting edge research and clinical practice initiatives.

“It was a great opportunity for us at NMBI to meet with key stakeholders and discuss the issues currently facing the professions. It is part of our ongoing efforts to engage and communicate more frequently and more effectively.”