Background A hospice has been preparing for nurse revalidation, ensuring staff feel fully supported and valued so that the best, safest care is delivered to patients and families.

Following on from the Francis Report recommendations, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) concluded that nurses are to be revalidated every three years to maintain their registration.

The hospice has fully trained and supported staff in how to undertake the process, with four members of staff currently applying for their revalidation. This involves completing their portfolio, which contains records of their CPD, practice hours, feedback and reflective accounts.

Although the recommendation is only for registered nurses and midwives, the organisation has extended this and included auxiliary nurses and professionals allied to medicine (PAMs) in this process. It was decided that this would help set a consistent approach in terms of establishing reflective practice across the workforce, creating a professional standard for all clinical staff involved in patient care.

Aim The purpose of revalidation is to improve public protection by making sure that nurses continue to practice safely throughout their career.

The aim of the project was to ensure that the organisation and its staff were prepared for revalidation. This meant looking at all their systems and ensuring that they were aligned to support nurses with the requirements of revalidation. By doing this the hospice has been able to redesign appraisal and induction, promote educational opportunities and strengthen the support available to nurses and other staff.

Method The hospice conducted training sessions that briefed staff on the requirements of revalidation, signposted the key requirements and provided guidance on how to build their portfolio.

In addition, the clinical education nurse has provided one-to-one support to people who were unable to attend the workshops or required further support, meaning that to date a total of 90% of nurses have benefited from this initiative.

The hospice has a designated administrator for the project and has trained line managers of nurses in the Confirmer role.

Conclusion Once the first wave of nurses has completed the revalidation process, the organisation will review the work to date and create a framework to continue to support its staff with revalidation.