A group of senior nurses Stockport NHS nurses have taken up a brand new role to provide additional care and support for their colleagues.

They are among the first in the country to have been trained as Professional Nurse Advocates (PNAs), a new role introduced across the NHS last year in response to the additional stresses and challenges to wellbeing for nursing staff in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The PNA accredited training programme enables those who have received it to provide ‘restorative supervision’ to their nursing colleagues, helping them to develop their resilience, reflect on practice and look after their own health and wellbeing during challenging times and workloads.

Although the PNA role and programme are new to general nursing in England and Wales, a similar programme was previously in place for midwives, and was found to improve individual wellbeing, enhance management of work/life balance, reduce stress and burnout, and improve sickness and absentee rates from colleagues who had received its support.

Seven Stockport NHS Foundation Trust PNAs are now in place offering empathic support for their colleagues, both at Stepping Hill Hospital and also for district nurses and health visitors working based in the community as well. The PNAs have taken on the new supportive role alongside their other everyday nursing duties.

Helen Howard, Deputy Chief Nurse for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said “The challenges our nursing colleagues have faced both in Stockport and across the nation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic are immense and are still ongoing. That’s why it’s so important the new role of Professional Nurse Advocate is in place to help give them the empathic support which they require and deserve. I know our own new PNAs have been enthusiastic and passionate during their training and will be a new tower of support for their nursing fellow nurses.”