My journey as a GPN to UK Professional Lead - Why GPN?

General practice nursing (GPN) – an amazing area of nursing I have always wanted to be involved in since starting my career.

Hello everyone! My name is Callum, and I am the UK Professional Lead for Long Term Conditions here at the RCN – and I have the pleasure of currently working with the GPN forum. Now you ask, what is a professional lead? Well, my role is to help advise and support the forum with objectives, which may include bids for funding, publications approval, event applications, representation of RCN externally and any other activities. I also meet regularly with the chair to discuss forum committee objectives and profile and promote contact with wider forum groups.

Outside the forum I work within the RCN to influence nursing practice and harness the voice of nursing by developing and utilising effective professional relationships between the RCN and relevant national-level external networks and stakeholders such as statutory agencies, professional bodies, providers, and commissioners, independent and third sector organisations and public / patient groups. I am still very much active within primary care, working as an advanced nurse practitioner specialising in diabetes in a GP surgery in Norfolk – and I cherish being able to clinically meet the challenges of contemporary practice and find ways of working with my RCN colleagues to improve the working lives of GPNs across the UK.

Why general practice? What can it offer? This diverse area of nursing can provide a wealth of opportunity to be build both clinical and professional skills that can support patient management across the life-span continuum. As a GPN you encounter those at their very first weeks of life and then can work with patients who may be advancing in their condition needing further support to remain independent. That is what pushed me into the direction of long-term condition management, as having patient continuity to build strong therapeutic relationships means you can provide high quality biopsychosocial care.

My career in general practice started as a nervous GPN, entering the primary care setting only 6 months after qualifying. I still worked within acute care at this time to build my acute skills, as being an autonomous practitioner in a general practice setting requires strong sense of self-awareness to recognise your own limitations. After navigating the realms of treatment room duties and immunisations, I ventured into specialising in diabetes and respiratory management. I relished opportunity to support patients from diagnosis through to cases of supportive management in end of life, acting as a clinical advisory to my colleagues and recommending treatment where required. Don’t get me wrong – we are all aware of the pressures with time management, short staff and the variety of the role requiring multiple workstreams to be worked on simultaneously – but I love the challenge. I then undertook my ANP training to be able to provide assessment for undifferentiated conditions, but still specialise in long term condition management.

Whilst that is my journey, you may ask – what has it offered? It has opened up opportunities far beyond my expectations. Through my clinical experience I was able to secure a clinical lead role with my local ICB in diabetes and therefore develop a local healthcare forum to improve education around diabetes further. I was supported in publishing around wound care and diabetes, and was honoured to be asked to sit on the Journal of General Practice Nursing editorial board, and now I am in this wonderful position at the RCN – the opportunities are endless.

Whether you are a seasoned GPN or new to the field – I and the forum thank you for your continued support and work in supporting patients in primary care. The forum are undertaking some exciting projects and we value your input and expertise. Please continue to check out social media for updates and opportunities to become involved. Additionally, the lived experienced of our members is crucial to helping us ensure our projects matter to you – that is why we have teamed up with SenseMaker to help you share your story, if interested see how you can share your story here.

I hope you have found this blog interesting on my journey as a GPN, and I am very grateful to be supporting the GPN forum at this stage – and please get in touch with any suggestions or ideas, we are always open to improving our member experience!