Strategic Plan for Nursing & Midwifery (2023-2028)

Connecting our Communities, Realising our Ambitions

Reimagining Nursing and Midwifery for NHS Lothian

Connecting our Communities, Realising our Ambitions: Reimagining Nursing and Midwifery for NHS Lothian is the strategic plan that sets out a vision and five key ambitions for the next five years. It describes the key deliverables necessary to build the foundations which will support and empower nurses and midwives to shape a sustainable future and drive improvements in best practice within our own professional community and for the communities we serve.

We celebrated the first year of implementation of the strategic plan at an event on 10th May 2024. This included 36 presentations from nurses and midwives across the organisation showcasing activities and outcomes related to the achievement of the five ambitions set out in the plan. You can view the full programme for the day and access many of the presentations here.

Please find an overview of the strategic plan below and to view the full strategic plan, please click here.

Our first Nursing and Midwifery Annual Report that details the achievement of our ambitions during the first year of implementation 2023-2024 is now available.

You can watch a recorded PowerPoint presentation by Gillian McAuley, Nurse Director Acute Services that explains the strategic plan.

Gillian McAuley, Nurse Director Acute Services and her senior leadership team discuss the next steps in the implementation of the Nursing and Midwifery Strategic Plan.

Foreword – Executive Nurse Director

Alison MacDonald

Connecting our Communities, Realising our Ambitions is our Nursing and Midwifery Strategic Plan 2023-2028. It is designed to address some of the key challenges for the professions and the Board and to ensure NHS Lothian is equipped with a strong, compassionate, empowered and highly skilled workforce, enabling the delivery of best outcomes for people.

It is important that Nursing and Midwifery professionals recognise the key role they play in achieving the local and national objectives alongside NHS Lothian’s Strategic Development Framework 2022-2027.

This plan underpins our ambitions for NHS Lothian to become a great place to work and a great place to be cared for.

When we talk about ‘our communities’, we are referring firstly to the community of patients/clients that we care for; and we are also talking about our communities of nurses and midwives who work in many different sectors and settings across NHS Lothian. We are immensely proud of the Nursing and Midwifery professions because of the professionalism, dedication and desire to provide quality and compassionate care, whilst working in some of the most difficult circumstances.

We are devoted to ensuring that people are at the focus of what we do and that the experience of patients, staff and those who use our services are at the heart of what matters.

Framework to Deliver the Strategic Plan

The vision setting out the future state
The five ambitions which underpin the overarching aim that NHS Lothian will become a great place to work and a great place to be cared for.
The aims in a set of detailed objectives.
The key deliverables which are set out incrementally in rolling steps

Our Vision

Strategic plan

Supporting communities of patients/clients and staff by empowering autonomy, belonging and individual contribution to provide excellence.

Our communities of patients/clients, relatives and carers and our communities of Nursing and Midwifery staff are at the heart of this strategic plan.

We recognise the importance of empowerment, autonomy and individual contribution for all these groups, which are fundamental to a sense of belonging.

This plan also describes what our nurses and midwives can aspire to in their own career development.

Summary of our Aims and Ambitions

Our Ambitions

Reinvigorate our workforce,
Make people feel valued, respected and supported,
Deliver excellence in safe high quality care,
Maximise the professional contribution of nurses and midwives,
Deliver excellent, person-centred compassionate care.

Our Aims

We will make NHS Lothian a great place to work and a great place to be cared for with a Framework for Compassionate Leadership: helping, understanding, attending, empathising and by Meeting the Core Needs of our Staff: autonomy, belonging and contribution.

Key Deliverables

We have developed a step diagram to identify what will be delivered in each year of this plan

2023-2025

Connecting
Communities

Attract, recruit and retain a skilled workforce
Embed governance and assurance framework using Quality Management
Safe communications with and between teams
Promote an inclusive culture, fostering diversity
Role model and deliver our principles for person-centred care
Work as equal partners with medical and general manager colleagues through triumvirate structures

2025-2027

Realising
Ambitions

Invest in areas of growth that matter to staff
Create opportunity for personal and professional development
Making it easier for everyone to test improvement ideas
Authentic, appreciative, kind open and honest
Develop care processes and systems that are centred around people
Engage and empower the workforce to innovate and improve for the future
Redesign the workforce that supports new roles and a sustainable future

2028

Reimagining
N&M

Maximise potential and impact at every level
Leadership to support safety at all levels
Lead with compassion, empowerment, autonomy and contribution
Nuture teamwork cohesion and advance the collective power of our influence
Provide personalised values, rights-based care that is realistic
Focus on enablement and engagement using feedback to drive improvement
Lead excellence in learning, research and professional practice

Strategy Map Identifying Local and National Priorities

Connecting our Communities, Realising our Ambitions
Strategy Map 2023-2028

NHS Scotland Nursing 2030 Vision

Personalising Care

Preparing Nursing for Future Needs and Roles

Supporting Nurses

Excellence in Care

The six domains of Quality

Person Centred

Safe

Efficient

Timely

Equitable

Effective

NHS Lothian Strategic Development Framework – The population will live longer and healthier lives with better outcomes from the care and treatment we provide

Improving the health of the population

Improving performance

Improving how we work with people

Digital; Finance; Workforce; Environmental

NHS Lothian Nursery and Midwifery Vision – Supporting communities of patients/clients and staff by empowering autonomy, belonging and individual contribution to provide excellence

Reinvigorate our workforce

Deliver excellence in safe high quality care

People feel valued, respected and supported

Deliver excellent person-centred compassionate care

Maximise the professional contribution of nurses and midwives

Equality and Inclusion in the Nursing and Midwifery Professions

We are committed to advancing equality for all nurses and midwives with protected characteristics to progress their careers within NHS Lothian.

We are invested in developing everyone as a leader, which is critical to delivering this strategic plan. We have secured Florence Nightingale Foundation (FNF) Academy membership, giving all our nurses and midwives access to a range of development resources and opportunities.

Framework for Compassionate Leadership

This strategic plan also commits to embedding a Framework for Compassionate Leadership, which is centred of four core behaviours of attending, understanding, empathising and helping (Atkins and Parker, 2012)

Meeting the Core Needs of Our Staff

Research has demonstrated that the well-being, flourishing and engagement of nurses and midwives is affected by three core needs: Autonomy, Belonging and Contribution (West et al., 2020). It is our ambition to support the delivery of these needs through our actions to transform working lives, and in turn improve the safety and quality of the care we deliver.

AUTONOMY

The need to have control over one’s work life, and to be able to act consistently with one’s values

1.	Authority, empowerment and influence
2.	Justice and fairness
3.	Work conditions and working schedules

BELONGING

The need to be connected to, cared for by, and caring of colleagues, and to feel valued, respected and supported

4.	Teamworking
5.	Culture and leadership

CONTRIBUTION

The need to experience effectiveness in work and deliver valued outcomes

6.	Workload
7.	Management and supervision
8.	Education, learning and development

Nursing and Midwifery Career Pathway

Our aim is that NHS Lothian is seen as a great place to work, a place where there are opportunities for long and rewarding careers in Nursing and Midwifery.

This career pathway offers some examples of opportunities that are available.