Relationships key to driving up quality, says Scottish CNO

Ms Moore, who took up the post of Scottish CNO in January, is helping lead the implementation of the NHS Quality Strategy for Scotland, which was published in February.  

In her first interview since taking up the post, she told Nursing Times she wanted to get across how important it was to “really understand” nursing and midwifery quality and the need to get a “very strong” assurance process in place to monitor it.

She said: “What I do really want to focus on is the relationships – between the patients, nurses and healthcare assistants. Relationship-based care is one of the fundamental elements of practice.”

Ms Moore, who was previously nursing director for NHS Connecting for Health, also said reforms to the nursing workforce in Scotland would not slacken off because of the public sector spending squeeze.

She highlighted the need to “keep the agenda alive and the pressure on” to modernise the community nursing workforce, develop the senior charge nurse role and introduce regulation for healthcare assistants in Scotland.

“It’s about keeping these key areas going and progressing, all within the changing economic climate,” she told Nursing Times.

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