ADVANCING HEALTHCARE PRACTICE

FoNS Practice Development Programmes

Over the last five years, FoNS has developed and delivered practice development programmes which have enabled 55 nurse-led teams across the UK to make sustainable improvements to patient care.

FoNS believes that all patients should experience care that is high quality and patient-focused and that the responsibility for continuously improving the quality of care lies with all healthcare professionals. However, we recognise that implementing change and/or getting evidence into practice can be a complex process and that nurses and healthcare teams do not always have access to the resources, knowledge and skills that are needed for effective and sustainable change.

The FoNS practice development programmes provide professional support and funding to enable nurses and nurse-led healthcare teams to develop and share effective and sustainable ways of providing care that is evidence-based and meets the needs of patients.

FoNS are currently facilitating four practice development programmes:

1. Patients First Programmea

The Patients First Programme offers both funding and expertise in facilitating practice development and change for clinically based nurses to enable them to lead innovative local projects that will develop nurses, nursing and healthcare practice to improve patient care in any healthcare setting across the UK. This programme is a new and forwadr thinking partnership between FoNS and the Burdett Trust for Nursing.

The FoNS Small Projects Programme (SPP) supports clinically based nurses, midwives and healthcare teams who want to develop healthcare practice to improve patient care in any healthcare setting across the UK. These are locally based initiatives that run over 12-18 months.

This programme is currently supported by the Burdett Trust for Nursing and Antigone - Martha Lane Fox's grant giving trust.

The FoNS Developing Practice Programme identifies specific areas of healthcare practice that require development and then works with nurse-led teams to facilitate change and evaluate the impact of their initiative on practice and patient care over a 1-3 year period.

4. FoNS Practice Based Development and Research Programme

The FoNS Practice Based Development and Research Programme aims to support nurse-led healthcare teams working in England and Wales who have identified an aspect of care that needs improving and are committed to working in a systematic way to develop and change practice through practice based research.

This programme is run in partnership with General Nursing Council Trust.

For further information about these activities, follow the links in the text or contact kate.sanders@fons.org or theresa.shaw@fons.org

developing practice * improving patient care* practice development