After Congress last month I am still reeling from the excitement the experience brought. The networking, social interactions and debates were worth the travel.
Social events were great too, especially the barbecue on the Tuesday. I’d love to see a dedicated inclusive social gathering to celebrate our diversity. People showing up in their traditional/national wear; food from different nations and international music. Such a social event will be full of style, spice and steeze! Perhaps this is an assignment for me to see if I can convince my branch to organise this as a fringe/social event.
The agenda committee did a great job with their choice of items to be debated. They all generated thoughtful submissions from attendees. There was always more we could have said, but time was short. My RCN buddy, Yetunde (Hampshire Branch) came as a self-funded non-voting member specifically for the debate on patient flow because, as a patient flow manager, she felt her side of the story should be heard. Unfortunately she wasn’t called to speak. Perhaps there could be some sort of vox pop cubicle to serve as a space for people to record a short 1-2 minute video with their own take on specific topics on the agenda. Or perhaps fewer items on the agenda so we can spend more time discussing them. Or could we even extend Congress to a 6-day event?
At Congress just a few of the things we talked about were crumbling buildings, patient flow, access to CPD and guaranteed jobs for newly qualified nursing students. I am sure colleagues will agree that the most common challenge behind many of these topics is money or government funding.
This is a wake-up call for all nurses. It’s time for us to do some uprooting, because what use is a tree that doesn’t bear fruit (doesn’t include fair pay for nursing); doesn’t offer shade (doesn’t offer good and hospitable buildings to work in); nor contribute to the air quality (doesn’t support the nursing workforce, education, training or development).
On July 4, with our votes, we can plant new trees. If the new trees still don’t meet our expectations, we’ll go again and again until we get it right.
Next year Congress will be in Liverpool, will you be attending?
