My name is Alison Paterson, and I am your representative for the Eastern region on the Professional Nursing Committee (PNC). I am writing this having just attended my first RCN Congress in sunny Brighton.
The energy, enthusiasm and knowledge from the Eastern region blew me away. The region proposed several important resolutions, ran two very successful fringe events and members from across the region contributed multiple times to the debates.
The role of the PNC is to advise the RCN Council on the professional issues that affect nurses and nursing. We work with the Trade Union Committee to lead on work that you, the members, tell us during Congress is important. I am really looking forward to working with RCN staff and proposers to bring the resolutions from Brighton into action.
This is my first RCN role. I was appointed in January and my term of office runs to December 2023. I applied because I have seen a change in the RCN over the last few years. It is now an organisation bringing our uniqueness as the only union for the nursing family to truly lead the way for nursing. It has been a joy to join such an inclusive and diverse Eastern region board, which is a tribute to the leadership of Natalie, our board chair.
Since January I have attended Eastern board, several PNC meetings and the joint meeting of the TU and professional nursing committees, where we worked together to influence and advise on the new RCN five-year strategy and the new RCN Institute.
Professionally I have been a nurse for over 20 years. Currently, I am the lead cancer nurse at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust. Before this I worked across bone marrow transplant, intensive care and most recently as a cancer clinical nurse specialist in blood cancers and acute oncology.
I look forward to meeting more of you. Please contact me directly if you have any questions or would like to discuss the current work of the PNC. You can find me on Twitter @alimully or via email.
Finally, we always need members to get involved, at branch, regional or national level. If you are interested, please look at the website or contact us to find out how.
