Process for establishing and disestablishing a forum

1.1.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has a number of Forums covering specialist or specific areas of practice within the nursing workforce.

1.2.

Forums bring together members from an identified specialised area of nursing practice or with a specialist or shared interest. They aim to develop nursing policy and practice in their respective field and to provide an expert resource both internally and externally on behalf of the RCN and members.  They operate within the governance structure of the RCN.

1.3.

The Forums are comprised of RCN members and contain a mixture of registered nurses, nursing support workers and nursing students.

1.4.

The functions of the Forums are set out as:

• Leading the development of knowledge, guidance and standards within a specific area of nursing practice
• The development and review of publications relevant to their area of practice
• Influencing policy development
• Providing an expert member view to the RCN on their area of practice
• Representing the RCN at a range of meetings or events relevant to their area of practice and external bodies as required
• Contributing to national and local consultations
• The development and delivery of workshops, conferences, or events within their area of nursing practice.

1.5

The Regulation on RCN Forums states that ‘the Professional Nursing Committee will establish and agree the name of RCN Forums and notify RCN Council (paragraph 3)’ and ‘A forum may be dissolved, merged with another forum, or have its name altered by approval of the PNC, who will notify RCN Council’ (paragraph 5).

1.6.

This policy sets out the process for the establishing and disestablishing of RCN Forums.

2.1.

From time to time, requests are made to the RCN to establish a Forum for a specific area of professional practice.

2.2.

In the first instance, any such request should be directed to the Nursing Practice Academy who will contact the requester(s) and draw their attention to the criteria and ask that they submit the ‘Request to establish a Forum’ form (see below).

2.3.

Requests that are not made via the ‘Request to establish a Forum’ form will not be considered. Forms that are incomplete will not be considered.  Requests that are not for a specific area of professional practice will not be considered.  This will be made clear, in writing, to any requester(s).

2.4.

Once the form has been submitted, it will be reviewed by the nominated professional lead in the Nursing Practice Academy to discuss and ensure the application is complete. Depending on the nature of the request, the requester(s) may be asked to complete an Equalities Impact Assessment. The nominated professional lead will advise and support with the completion of this.

2.5.

All completed applications will be submitted and presented to the Forum Governance Group (FGG) at the next scheduled meeting. FGG will discuss and make recommendations to the Professional Nursing Committee (PNC) as to the steps to take.

2.6.

In considering the submission, the FGG will take into account the following criteria:

• Justify the relevance of the specific area of nursing practice being proposed and demonstrate how it will:
  • Provide a focus for RCN activity within the specific area of nursing practice.
  • Lead the development of knowledge within the specific area of nursing practice.
• Justify its uniqueness from existing UK wide forums.
• Demonstrate a four-country relevance and approach to any planned work.
• Demonstrate support from the nursing practice academy, regional officers or country leads.
• Demonstrate work that may have been undertaken relevant to the specific area of practice in the previous 6 months and how it is aligned to the RCN strategic plan and wider mission.
• Has members who will put themselves forward through an application process to be on the steering committee to ensure quoracy, and members who will put themselves forward for election to be the Chair.
• Whether the topic area could be aligned with another Forum.
• Whether the topic area could pose a reputational risk to the RCN.
• The likely size of membership of the proposed Forum.
• What additional resources might be required to support the Forum.
• That an Equalities Impact Assessment has been completed where appropriate.
• Any other factors considered relevant by the FGG.

2.7.

Once the review stage has been completed by FGG, the application will be presented to the PNC at its next meeting with a recommendation for consideration and decision.

2.8.

The requester(s) will be informed of this process, provided with the date of the PNC meeting and invited to nominate a representative to the PNC meeting to present the case for the establishment.

2.9.

Nominated representatives will not be involved in the decision on whether to establish a Forum.  If a member of FGG or PNC are party to the request, this should be declared at the meeting where the request is considered, and that person should not take part in discussion/decision making.

2.10.

It is the role of the PNC to consider the application, come to an agreement on whether the Forum should be established and, if agreed, approve its establishment.

2.11.

Having considered the request from the FGG the PNC will decide, via a simple majority vote, to:

• Approve the establishment of the Forum. 
• Decline the request to establish a Forum.
• Recommend that the topic area is aligned with another Forum.
• Take another option as identified during discussion.

2.12.

In the event of a split decision, the Chair of the PNC will have the casting vote.

2.13.

The discussions and decision will be captured in the minutes of the PNC meeting.

2.14.

In keeping with good governance practice, following the PNC committee meeting at which the final decision is made, the FGG and RCN Council will be informed of the decision in writing, by the Chair of the PNC (and with the support of the Governance Support Team). The Governance Committee will be informed of the decision.  The requester(s) will subsequently be informed of the decision in writing by the Governance Support Team and advised of any further actions required, where appropriate.

3.1.

From time to time, there may be a need to disestablish a Forum.  The reasons for this may include, but are not limited to:

• The Forum Steering Committee requests to change status and become a network.
• Inability to meet stated objectives and progress work plan.
• There are very few or no remaining members in the Forum.
• Any of the minimum activities are not met.
• The work of the forum no longer aligns with the RCN strategic objectives and wider mission.
• The forum could be amalgamated with another forum that has a similar specialist area of practice. 
• The Forum puts the RCN at reputational risk.
• Any other factors considered relevant by the PNC.

3.2.

The following minimum activities are required to be carried out each year to remain an active UK-wide professional forum:

• An annual strategy day that includes setting out a workplan for the next 12 months.
• Produce an annual report of forum activities by the agreed deadline towards the end of the year.
• Steering Committee remains quorate.
• All Forum Steering Committee members are actively engaged with the Steering Committee meetings and delivery of the workplan.

3.3.

The Governance and Nursing Practice Academy will work together to provide FGG with a summary report annually on the forum activities and membership. Where minimum activities are not met, and/or another reason for disestablishing a forum is identified (as informed by paragraph 3.1), a recommendation can be made to disestablish a forum following consultation with the relevant members.  A ‘Recommendation to Disestablish a Forum’ form (see below) must be completed, signed off by the Head of Nursing Practice (or delegated representative in their absence) and submitted to the FGG.

3.4.

FGG will discuss and make recommendations on whether to approve the recommendation. In the event that a member of FGG is a member of the forum in question, they will recuse themselves from the discussion on whether to recommend that the Forum is disestablished.

3.5.

Once the review stage has been completed by the FGG, the recommendation will be presented to the PNC with a recommendation for consideration at its next scheduled meeting.

3.6.

It is the role of the PNC to consider the recommendation and come to an agreement on whether the Forum should be disestablished.

3.7.

Should the FGG recommend that a Forum is disestablished against the wishes of the member(s) Forum (if any), a member of that Forum Steering Committee will be invited to attend the PNC meeting at which the form is submitted as a representative, to present the case for its continuation.  However, that representative will not be involved in making the decision on whether to disestablish the Forum.

3.8.

In the event that the representative is a member of the PNC, they will recuse themselves from the discussion on whether to approve that the Forum is disestablished, and from the decision.

3.9.

Having considered the report the PNC will decide, via a simple majority vote, to:

• Approve the disestablishment of the Forum to RCN Council.
• Decide that the Forum should continue.
• Recommend that it is amalgamated with another Forum.
• Take another option as identified during the discussion.

3.10.

In the event of a split decision, the Chair of the PNC will have the casting vote.

3.11.

The discussions and decision will be captured in the minutes of the PNC meeting.

3.12.

In keeping with good governance practice, following the PNC committee meeting at which the final decision is made, the FGG and RCN Council will be informed of the decision in writing, by the Chair of the PNC (and with the support of the Governance Support Team) after which the members of the relevant Forum will immediately be informed of the decision in writing by the Governance Support Team and advised of any subsequent action, where appropriate.  The Governance Committee will be informed of the decision.