From Monday 24th February we will be undertaking another week of engagement activity on the nursing and midwifery contribution to public health, this time focusing on health protection. The aim of the week is to share and celebrate the contribution of nursing and midwifery in this important area of public health and to look ahead at the challenges we face in the future. Through a range of social media and traditional communication formats we hope to connect with as many nurses and midwives as possible, as well as other healthcare professions, and promote good practice and help develop a better understanding of the professions’ roles in protecting health and their contribution to delivering success through a multi-professional approach.
We have a number of partners supporting us throughout the week, including the Nursing Standard, Nursing Times and Independent Nurse, the RCN, RCM, CPHVA, ADASS, the Institute of Health Visiting, 6Cs Live and @WeNurses and I would encourage you to follow the relevant publications and social media activity throughout the week too. The DH/PHE nursing team will also be making some visits during the week to frontline services and events, so we look forward to meeting and engaging with some of you in person. We will also be asking you to think about joining us in health protection pledges for http://changeday.nhs.uk/home
My blog page will be the main hub for the week and we hope to give you daily prompts for both what is coming up and what we have already done. We will also be using Twitter to promote our activity and if you wish to follow any of us our hashtag for the week will be #NMProtectHealth and our Twitter handles are @VivJBennett, @MrsBosanquet, @DavidFosterDH, @PaulinWatts, @WendyJNicholson, @BenT_DH and @JChristensenDH.
The following programme provides a sample of some of the activity we have planned for the week:
Monday, 24th Feb – Introducing Health Protection Week
• Viv Bennett’s Blog – introducing the issues
• Audioboo Discussions – short discussions between Viv Bennett and other senior leaders will be tweeted
• Making a Pledge for NHS Change Day – Sign up to our pledges or make your own http://changeday.nhs.uk/home
Tuesday, 25th Feb – Main Theme for the Day: Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Acquired Infections
• 3.30pm-4.30pm RCN Webinar Rose Gallagher, Nurse Advisor Infection Prevention and Control:Webinar on - Infection control and antimicrobial resistance (Places are limited so please e-mail nursing.dept3@rcn.org.uk to book a place)
• 8pm Twitterchat at @WeNurses ‘Health protection- Every Nurse’s role’ - For more information on how to participate in Twitter discussions go to here and follow @WeNurses on Twitter.
• Blog from Professor John Watson, deputy Chief Medical Officer, and Carole Fry, DH Nursing Lead on Infectious Disease
• Blog from Pauline Watts, DH Nursing Officer for Health Visiting, and Wendy Nicholson, DH Nursing Officer for School and Community Nursing
• Blog from David Foster, Deputy Director of Nursing at DH, on midwifery and health protection
• Articles, case studies, career profiles and key facts available through some of our partners
Wednesday, 26th Feb – Main Theme for the Day: Immunisation
• 3.30pm-4.30pm Helen Donovan, RCN Public Health nursing Adviser and Dr Helen Bedford Senior Lecturer ICH:Webinar on - ‘Current policy in immunisations and vaccinations’ (Places are limited so please e-mail nursing.dept3@rcn.org.uk to book a place)
• Blog from Dr Helen Bedford, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Child Health, UCL
• Blog from Pauline Watts, DH Nursing Officer for Health Visiting, and Wendy Nicholson, DH Nursing Officer for School and Community Nursing
• Debunking Flu Myths
• Articles, case studies, career profiles and key facts available through some of our partners
Thursday, 27th Feb – Main Theme for the Day: Tuberculosis
• Blog from Dr Paul Cosford, Medical Director, PHE
• Blog from Pauline Watts, DH Nursing Officer for Health Visiting, and Wendy Nicholson, DH Nursing Officer for School and Community Nursing
• Articles, case studies, career profiles and key facts available through some of our partners
Friday, 28th Feb – Theme for the Day: Other Areas of Health Protection, Reflection on the week and looking to the Future.
• 10.30am-11.30am Webinar on Health Protection for 0-19yrs – hosted by Pauline Watts, DH Nursing Officer for Health Visiting, and Wendy Nicholson, DH Nursing Officer for School and Community Nursing (Please e-mail ian.packman@dh.gsi.gov.uk to request details -Limited spaces, so first come; first served)
• Blog from Ben Thomas on protecting mental health
• Blog from Viv Bennett reflecting on the week and plans for the future
• Articles, case studies, career profiles and key facts available through some of our partners
