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NHS England Central Midlands conducts innovative pilot to ensure readiness for nurse revalidation

Simon Monkman, managing director at Premier IT, outlines how forward-thinking healthcare organisations such as NHS England Central Midlands (north) are preparing for nurse revalidation.

With revalidation commencing in 2015 and a number of official Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) revalidation pilot projects underway, what are ‘non-official’ pilot sites doing to prepare themselves? Are they waiting for the outcome of the NMC pilots or are they forging ahead using innovative tools in pilots of their own, making improvements to existing processes now in readiness for revalidation? NHS England Central Midlands (north) certainly is. 

NHS England Central Midlands (north) works with seven CCGs and 700 nurses and is fully committed to improving health outcomes for the people of Leicester, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Rutland. It is undertaking a pilot project aiming to: 

• Support the development of a unified nurse revalidation process across the region; and
• Establish a system that provides tools and enablers for nurses and GPs to support nurses to revalidate. 

To collect meaningful data across a range of practices and nursing staff, a sample of 100 volunteer nurses from across the region were enlisted to take part. In addition (and key to achieving the aims of the pilot) would be the introduction of a software solution to provide a robust, streamlined way of collecting evidence, undertaking appraisals and demonstrating revalidation readiness. NHS England Central Midlands (north) decided to implement HeART, the market-leading and RCN-accredited system by Premier IT, to run the revalidation pilot. 

To begin with, NHS England Central Midlands (north) and Premier IT devised a project plan for the pilot, which is to run until June 2015, including a number of key stages: 

• Initial survey to pilot participants asking views, needs and expectations for revalidation
• Configuration of HeART system including organisational structure, competency sets and workflows
• Implementation of system and training roll-out
• Collation of CPD evidence and reflection by users and conducting of appraisals
• Regular communication updates and monthly evaluation of the pilot
• Decisions on future action based on pilot findings 

Once NHS England Central Midlands (north) had made the decision on the best way to manage appraisals, translating these new processes into workflows, structures and competency frameworks on HeART was straightforward due to the highly configurable, flexible nature of the system. It decided to adapt the ‘Good Medical Practice guidelines’ used by GPs as a set of standards for the nurses, which became the ‘Good Clinical Practice Guidelines’. These are subject to change based on the NMC guidelines on mapping evidence and the new NMC Code. The new guidelines ensure that nurses have a clear structure for their portfolios and appraisals. 

An extensive programme of launch events, including HeART training sessions, have been conducted, ensuring that the seven participating CCGs and their nurses are updated on the progress of revalidation and are comfortable using the HeART system. As a result of the popularity of these events, the pilot actually grew to include more than 150 volunteer nurses and is anticipated to grow even further. A programme of communications (emails, newsletters, leaflets and events) to both those taking part in the pilot, and those who are not, is ongoing. The first six months of the project have resulted in a fully configured and implemented online solution to enable nurses across NHS England Central Midlands (north) to manage their own portfolios and begin preparing for revalidation in December 2015. 

All goals set so far have been successfully achieved and have allowed NHS England Central Midlands (north) to gain an understanding of what the new process of revalidation will entail. In fact, it did not even need to wait until the end of the pilot to be successful in its business case for a full-time revalidation manager. It has determined to continue with the use of HeART to manage appraisal, revalidation and education for nurses after the pilot has finished. 

Joanne Harrison, quality improvement lead for the East Midlands Strategic Clinical Network & Senate, NHS England (Central Midlands), said: “We are really pleased to be supporting the vision of nurse revalidation and the development of processes and tools to help nurses and midwives in their preparation for NMC revalidation. This in turn helps assure the public – our patients, service users, clients and their families – of the abilities and competencies of those that are caring for them.”

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