New RCN Guide Will Give Nurses Business Skills To Succeed, UK

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 01 Oct 2007 - 5:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is launching a new guide to help nurses understand business and financial practices in the NHS. Nurses' Business: 'An introduction to costing and coding healthcare,' has been put together with the help of frontline nurses, NHS managers and financial experts to provide nurses with the tools they need to thrive and survive in the modern NHS.

Among the topics covered in the RCN guide are:

- The concept of Payment by Results
- Bidding for extra money or a new project
- Understanding clinical coding

Dr Peter Carter, RCN General Secretary said: "Business skills and clinical skills are two sides of the nursing coin. Nurses work in a huge range of healthcare settings and not only are they delivering patient care, but they are also major players in delivering change.

"Nurses need to have the skills to make a business case for keeping a particular service or saving a specific post and better business skills would also enable nurses to better shape and lead the modernisation process.

"I hope this guide helps demystify the financial and business practices in the NHS and by doing so gives nurses the confidence to stand up and speak out about the business decisions affecting their workplaces and their patients."

Nurses' Business: 'An introduction to costing and coding healthcare can be downloaded from the RCN website here.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the voice of nursing across the UK and is the largest professional union of nursing staff in the world. The RCN promotes the interest of nurses and patients on a wide range of issues and helps shape healthcare policy by working closely with the UK Government and other national and international institutions, trade unions, professional bodies and voluntary organisations.

http://www.rcn.org.uk