Viewpoints Resources

The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) and the National Garden Scheme (NGS) have  announced five new gardens and health projects led by nurses taking place in 2023.

The five projects are all led by nurses working in community settings and seek to improve the health of local people. Many projects supported by the QNI go on to become part of
mainstream services. All this year’s projects will run until early 2024 when they will submit their final reports.

The Queen’s Nursing Institute has been working for the past two years on a project to encourage more internationally educated nurses to look at community nursing roles in England. The project is supported by NHS England, hence the geographical focus on that country.

When our son Jack told my husband and I that he was gambling, we had no idea his life was at risk. As parents, we thought we knew all the dangers to warn our children about — drinking, drugs, smoking, road safety, sexual predators. 

In This Together (ITT) is an informative magazine, now in its sixth year, for people with conditions that require long-term  management with compression therapy. We are excited to also launch the In This Together website so that we can offer more frequent education, resources and updates in between issues of the magazine.

There is a wealth of evidence to demonstrate that racial inequalities persist in the UK in health, housing, employment, and the justice system. Some of this evidence is presented on the government’s ‘Ethnicity facts and figures’ website, which provides experience and outcome data for people from a variety of backgrounds (www.ethnicity-factsfigures.service.gov.uk/).

Research shows that there could be over 175,000 people in the UK with the genetic condition Lynch syndrome (National Institute for Health and Care [NICE], 2016). As healthcare professionals, it is vital to follow the evidence to determine who may be affected by Lynch syndrome in order that they can have appropriate screening to decrease their risk of bowel cancer and other related cancers. Those leads are largely found in two ways. First, through testing those with bowel cancer to see if they have Lynch syndrome so that their relatives can be tested to see if they have also inherited the condition, this is done in secondary care. The second way is through identifying individuals with what are termed ‘high risk’ family histories so that they can be tested for Lynch syndrome. This can be achieved in primary or secondary care.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a debilitating, lifelong condition which places significant
societal and economic burden on patients, caregivers and healthcare systems; the realities of living with SCD for both patients and caregivers significantly impact quality of life,
and include mental health issues, as well affecting ability to attend and be successful at school or work, therefore reducing earning potential (Sickle Cell Health Awareness,
Perspectives and Experiences (SHAPE) survey, 2022).

The pandemic has undoubtedly had catastrophic effects on the health and wellbeing of
the population. This will continue to unravel for years to come, so it is understandable that health and social care staff are still trying to unpack, unpick and attempting to make sense
of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The impact of the menopause, particularly in the workplace, has only recently been given
the attention it deserves. Seventyfive percent of the NHS’s workforce are women, and for nurses working in the community the figure is even higher (NHS England, 2021). ‘Women’
includes transgender, non-binary and intersex staff. The NHS and clinical leaders have responded to concerns and the menopause guidance for the NHS workforce managers was launched in November 2022 (NHS England, 2022).

Many people across the UK live with poor bowel health, suffering with chronic constipation and/or faecal incontinence, which can be debilitating and prevent those suffering from enjoying their best life possible. The ‘Cost of Constipation Report’ (2020), published by the Bowel Interest Group, documents that in fact one in seven adults are affected by constipation at any one time; while many people suffer in silence (Bowel Interest Group, 2020).