Future Nurse Network: Entrepreneurial NMAHPs Take Off

Enabling our healthcare unicorns to flourish

This week I head off for R&R with my eldest daughter Grace Phillips .

As ever when I start to wind down I reflect on work as part of the letting go and the switching off process.

It’s been a busy few months for Future Nurse with our consultancy growing from strength to strength but what is occupying my mind most is the Future Nurse Network.

I wrapped up work on Friday with the inaugural meeting of a small group of entrepreneurial nurses and midwives. Pioneers each in their own right they gathered to learn from and support each other but perhaps even more importantly to start a social movement.

They had a number of things in common and I see an emerging typology of entrepreneurial nurses:

Vision

They are the pioneers and leaders who are reimagining how we deliver care in a digital age. and need a platform for their thought leadership to influence and spread.

Passion

For their work and deep expertise in their specialty. They are very experienced clinicians at the cutting edge in their field.

Creativity

A desire to do things better and the creativity to make it so.

Each had developed new models of care, new ways of working and all were developing technologies that supported very person centred approaches to care.

Courage

To take risks and put themselves out there - all were forging new paths and described themselves as often feeling lonely and on the outside.

In driving forward with their innovations they faced prejudice from within and without. Despite this they all displayed a resilience grown through many knock backs, and yet they have all delivered innovations that improved patient outcomes and experience.

We will share their inspiring stories in the coming weeks and months.

Commitment to professional development

From Topol, to Clinical Entrepreneur, to Darzi programmes this group were among the few nurses and midwives navigating their way into these NHS programmes.

Only 9% of those who have completed the clinical entrepreneur programme are nurses - this is despite nurses making up over half the clinical workforce.

We want to work with others to change this.

A thirst for change

You could say the group are unicorns within their professions, standing out and innovating successfully.

All have described hurdles they had to navigate to go from ideation to implementation, from the complexity of securing investment, navigating Intellectual Property, Information Governance, Business Cases and so much more.

The biggest challenge seems to be selling into an NHS who are suspicious of these unicorns.

The Future

There is much to do to equip the next generation of entrepreneurial nurses, midwives, and Allied Health Professionals (AHPs), and I'm delighted to introduce the following as founder members of the group:

Stacey Hatton, RN MSc Health IT CDH-L

Roxanne CROSBY-NWAOBI

Bernadette Porter MBE

Sophie Brooks

Jenni MacDonald

Ishbel Straker

All founder members have been resolute in their commitment to helping others to turn ideas into reality and fulfill their potential.

If you are one of what is currently a rare thing, an entrepreneurial nurse, midwife, or AHP and want to connect with like minded colleagues to accelerate your growth go to FutureNurse.uk to register your interest in joining our community.

And, if you're a health tech organisation and want to support the largest clinical workforce to bring digital solutions to real world problems in delivering person centred care and shaping healthy populations then also get in touch. Our community would value your sponsorship and opportunities to cross pollinate.

Find out more - contact Future Nurse

Future Nurse Network is ready for take off. I am excited to see where it goes and how many embark on the journey for a new digital age where person centred care can flourish.