Page 12 - QARANC Vol 14 No 7 2013

10 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Director Army Nursing Service’s Update
As you will be aware this is my last Annual General Meeting as Director of our Corps and I have to say that my tenure has flashed past in the blink of an eye. It has been another very busy year and the Corps continues to face many trials and tribulations but also to see many successes. I spoke last year of the many challenges that we had faced and this year has been very much the same with most of those challenges being generated by the wider AMS, Army and indeed Defence Medical Services. I am delighted to be able to report that I have been successful in my defence of the liability for the post of DANS which will continue for the foreseeable future in the rank of Colonel, however, the post will be double-hatted with that of Assistant Director of Business Assurance and Healthcare Commissioning. That said I am sure that you will agree with me that is a small price to pay to retain our Corps Director. I have no doubt at all that my successor will face a similar challenge which I fear will begin early in his tenure.
Massive Transfusion Capability and Apheresis. Additionally Captain Chris Carter is now the Chair of the RCN Defence Nursing Forum and he first nurse in 200 years to be elected into the Royal Society of Medicine. And Cpl Scott has been selected for the GB Luge Squad.
The array of reviews that I reported last year are now largely in their implementation phases and these include Army 2020, Future Reserves 2020 and DMS 20, in addition the centralisation of primary care under a SG led Defence Primary Healthcare Service has commenced. The final tranche of redundancy work will shortly commence and I remain concerned that unlike in the previous 3 tranches we will not get off so lightly in tranche 4. One of the benefits of DMS 20 and Army 2020 is that I am now in a position to undertake the long-overdue structural review of our Corps which will see every clinical employment being opened up to soldiers as well as officers and result in a balanced and sustainable nursing
capability for the future. Additionally I have placed nursing
s Our diverse range of capabilities continues
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rship at the top of our agenda for the foreseeable r
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growandtheflfledglingdevelopmentofadditi
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opportunities for Health Care Assistants tha
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nd I was particularly pleased to see retired n
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members attend my recent symposium for the
first time. That symposium saw speakers such as Doctor Peter Carter Chief Exec of the RCN, Jackie Smith Chief Exec and Registrar of the NMC, leading members of the RCN responsible for Healthcare Support Workers and speakers from the NHS leadership academy, additionally the 2 Med Bde Nursing Professoriate was represented by some of the
UKs leading nursing academics.
Sadly the Corps history that we had engaged
Y
Yvonne McEwan to write will now only comprise
1 volume which will cover the Great War, she has withdrawn from the process and so I have asked Col (Retd) Eric Gruber von Arni to
help and he has kindly agreed, additionally Lt Col (Retd) Kieron Spires has also agreed to help.
The ability of current and past members of the Corps, Regular and Reserve to present a united front is our real strength and together with the world class capability that we present we are formidable. I am sure that most of you will by now be aware that I hand over to Col Dave Bates in July, he will continue to drive on the development of our Corps and its people and I know that you will give him the same level of
tremendous support that you have given to me.
It has been a privilege and an honour to have been your Director, I have tried to ensure that our most precious asset, our people, have been foremost throughout my tenure and I hope that I have carried on the proud tradition that I have inherited from my predecessors. Before I finish I would like to thank the Association for the beautiful flowers that were
delivered to my wife yesterday.
I will close by expressing my sincere thanks to you all for
your support and dedication whilst I have been Director, our Corps and its people is something of which we should all be hugely proud and I wish you all the very best of luck for the future.
Thank you.
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he Association goes from strength to strength h
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reported last year has continued and we are no
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able to offer the full range of career employmen
opportunities from initial training, through Diploma to Foundation degree ultimately
leading to the role of Assistant Practitioner.
We have come so far that we are now being
cited as being at the forefront nationally for Healthcare Support Workers development
and training and are being consulted at a
national level on our pathway. The role of the
military nurse practitioner goes from strength
to strength with primary care and emergency nurses receiving additional training in nurse prescribing and where I have opened this opportunity up to Sgts and above, the nurse
posts in RAPs have now been set at Sgt
MNP and are beginning to be filled by SNCOs
where they used to be fifilled by Cpls. MNPs have deployed in role in Afghanistan and have acquitted themselves very well.
I am hugely proud of the fact that we have nurses commanding 2 of the 3 Regular Field Hospitals and a number of Reserve Field Hospitals, with Lt Col Steve Archer currently commanding the BASTION role 3 facility in Afghanistan. Lt Col Andrea Lewis will shortly hand over command of 22 Field Hospital to Lt Col Alison McCourt, an achievement that is well deserved and of which we can be justifiably proud as a Corps. Army nurses continue to occupy key posts influencing the development and delivery of care and the first Defence Professor of Nursing has been appointed and I am delighted to say that it is an Army Nurse in the shape of the newly promoted Col Alan Finnegan, additionally Col Jan Cook has also promoted to full Colonel. Clinically our personnel continue to attract praise for their extremely high standards and professional ability throughout the patient journey from Role 1 through to Role 4, on deployed operations and in the Firm Base. Lt Col Shephard and Capt Reid were recognised earlier this year and awarded the prestigious Nursing Standard Defence Nursing Award for their work on the development of
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