I’ve felt for some time that the multifaceted role of a band 5 nurse has forever been developing, leading to greater responsibility and increased pressure and requiring an advanced skills and knowledge set.

I also know from my own experience, and from speaking to band 5 colleagues, that many of us feel reluctant to take on greater responsibilities and more complex clinical roles at band 5 because the changes in the role have not been recognised in our banding or pay.

So, I saw the band 5 nursing roles review as a fantastic opportunity for my role to be acknowledged and valued at the correct level for its complexity and the challenges it brings.

I’ve been through the process now and my submission for rebanding was successful – a result that made the effort it took worthwhile.

I was daunted initially by what seemed an overwhelming number of questions to answer. However, I worked through each question systematically and jotted down clinical examples and scenarios that came to mind. This was a helpful way to get started. It gave me a heightened awareness of situations that occurred on shifts, allowing me to provide detail and focus when I got round to answering the questions fully.

I would really encourage all band 5 nurses to make a submission to the review. We have continued to take on greater responsibilities and consequent stressors that use multifaceted and complex clinical skills across a whole range of specialities. There are so many situations that occur daily on a clinical shift that require a wide-ranging skill set including technical, interpersonal and physical attributes and knowledge. These are all essential to provide safe, effective and high quality nursing care. We all deserve to have that properly recognised and valued.

It took me several months to work through the questionnaire. Looking back, I believe I could have submitted sooner than I did, if I’d concentrated on it over a few days rather than working on it for a short time frequently. One advantage of the way I did it though, was it allowed me to fully understand and discuss every element of my clinical role in great detail and to observe and re-assess my contribution in different clinical situations.

I was very fortunate to be supported by my RCN rep throughout the process. She was encouraging and inspiring throughout and pointed me in the direction of useful tools and information that would aid my submission.

I utilised the RCN guidance and found this invaluable to pinpoint the key terminology and information that was expected for each question. The framework ensured I provided answers that were concise and relevant, which used clinical examples to illustrate each response.

One tip from making my submission. When I submitted the document to the online portal I was aware that if I went over the word count, the answer would not be saved and would disappear. Therefore, I wrote all my answers in a word document to begin with and then moved them into the online portal, to avoid information disappearing.

Find support and guidance for members on the review of band 5 nursing roles on our dedicated pages.