Nursing is a safety critical profession. When nursing staff are valued, it benefits the health care service, and it benefits patients. But the nursing profession is at a pivotal moment, with challenges that all UK governments must address. Fewer people are entering the profession, and health and care services are struggling to retain nursing staff. Bejoy Sebastian will cover the future of the nursing profession - one which governments must prioritise.

The presentation will share the NMC's work to date on the review of advanced practice, including the research undertaken throughout the discovery phase and phase one, which led to Council’s decision to proceed to the development of additional regulation for nurses and midwives working at an advanced level. We’ll share the work we’ve been doing as part of Phase 2, including the principles of advanced practice and our public facing definition, which pending Council approval at the end of March will be launched in May. We’ll also outline next steps and how you can get involved.

There is global recognition that all health and care systems need to increase their focus on population and public health interventions. In this session, Professor Waterall will set out the case for change, examining public health data and identifying if practical steps that the nursing and midwifery professions can take to support the shift from treatment to prevention.

Awareness of the human impact on the Earth’s mineral, ecological and wider resources is increasing as is action to counter it. People's health and the delivery of health and care will continue to be directly affected by global warming and the nursing profession will be at the heart of action to reduce its effect on behalf of patients, the public and our profession. This presentation will explore the current science and ways in which people's health and health care will be impacted in the short and longer terms. The role of nursing and specifically the Royal College of Nursing will be discussed as key in advocating and acting as the voice of our profession on this critical issue.

This session will look at what constitutes the concept of 'Inclusion Health' and whether we need it. In addition, we will introduce a model of inclusive health that could be applied. Kendra and Kirit will discuss a case study and how the QNI supports people, with details on a project involving residents in homeless hostels the QNI Homeless & Inclusion Health Network.