Friday 11 September 2020
Since the previous Chief Nurse stepped down in April, leadership of the Chief Nurse's portfolio has been provided by senior and experienced colleagues across HSC.
With the Medical Director temporarily assuming responsibility for the management of Governance and the Director of Hospital and Adult Community Care Services, who trained as a nurse and undertook an extensive clinical career before moving into senior management, acting as the senior and single point of contact in respect of nursing across the Bailiwick.
This has allowed clear and consistent leadership to be provided and was agreed in dialogue with the RCN before it was implemented for this interim period. The Heads of Service for Maternity, Paediatrics, Mental Health, Adult Disability, Community and the Acute Hospital are all registered nurses and provide day to day professional leadership to their respective nursing portfolios across HSC.
The Chief Nurse role incorporates professional responsibility for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals across the Bailiwick. As such, recruitment to the post needs to be carefully considered to ensure that the post continues to best reflect the needs of both the organisation and the Bailiwick. This is standard practice within any public sector recruitment process, particular any senior appointments.
Given the need to continue to focus on COVID-19, and the operational resilience currently in place in respect of the duties previously undertaken by the Chief Nurse, this review has not yet been completed. Once it has, HSC will work closely with the RCN before taking steps to recruit.
The appointment of a Chief Nurse is not a political appointment.
