New commission to cater for changing roles of nurses

The traditional roles of nurses and midwives has changed, it has been suggested.

Health secretary Alan Johnson made these comments prior to a new committee of experts being appointed today who will advise the government on the future role of these medical professionals.

Nurses now have further powers and responsibilities to make improvements on wards, in GP centres and the community, he continued to note.

Mr Johnson added that it was now a good time to contemplate how to expand and develop these roles as the public health service is focused on quality.

“The commission will bring a wealth of personal experience ? to ensure that we can enable nurses to deliver a world class service in every aspect of the NHS.”

Among other areas, the board will consider how to give midwives and nurses more freedom to manage, assign and run their own services.

In further news, the Department of Health reported this week that 1.4 million pounds will be used to improve sexual assault referral centres across England to support victims of this kind of violence.