IFNA Bylaws encourage the creation of IFNA Chapters. In April 2017, The IFNA Board of Directors approved the first IFNA Chapter Charter membership of IFNA members in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland.
The UK and Ireland IFNA Chapter constitutes a unique national forum with responsibility for the promotion of family nursing and family oriented healthcare in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Currently the group consists of 18 family nurse scholars who are in the process of seeking funds for two face-to-face group meetings in Leeds, and development/maintenance of a website to assist in their goals of: generating, stimulating, promoting, and disseminating knowledge and interest in family nursing in practice, education, research, and scholarship among practitioners, families, researchers. and policy makers; being a professional source of evidence, information, and experience, thus contributing to the development of family nursing; informing professional and regulatory frameworks relating to family nursing; working with colleagues in other health and social care disciplines to reflect the multidisciplinary nature of health care; working with and demonstrating respect for all families; and providing a repository of evidence and resources relevant to UK and Ireland family nursing.
The purpose of this first-ever IFNA Chapter is to promote, support, and transform family health in the UK and Ireland by:
- Serving as a unifying force and voice for family nursing in the fields of Adult, Child, Intellectual Disability, Mental Health, and Midwifery.
- Generating and sharing knowledge, practices, and skills to enhance and nurture family nursing practice.
- Providing IFNA Chapter family nursing leadership through education, research, scholarship, socialization, and collegial exchange on all aspects of family nursing.
- Influencing policy makers and commissioning processes to promote family health in all levels of decision making.
- Showcasing current work on family nursing in the UK and Ireland and presenting it to a national and international audience.
The UK and Ireland IFNA Chapter will:
- Be relevant and open to people of all ages, genders, religious beliefs, and ethnic origins.
- Focus on the importance of health and illness for families as means of improving health for all.
- Acknowledge family structures as defined by the families themselves.
- Concentrate initially on family nursing but will later extend to other multidisciplinary groups to enhance the evidence base for family health and social care in the UK and Ireland.
Current 2017 members of the UK and Ireland IFNA Chapter include: Mary Braine, Barbara Davies, Christine English, Debbie Fallon, Vicky Garnett, Anne Grant, Sarah Kendal, Susan Kirk, Veronica Lambert, Linda McGowan, Alison Metcalfe, Linda Milnes, Sarah Neill, Ruth Nightingale, Kate Oulton, Tracey Redwood, Joanna Smith, Veronica Swallow, Jacquie Vasey, and Julie Wray.
NEW: In January 2018, the UK and Ireland IFNA Chapter was awarded a grant of £7,995 from the Burdett Trust for Nursing in the UK. This grant will be used to survey nurses’ attitudes towards families in the UK and Ireland using the ‘Families’ Importance in Nursing Care–Nurses’ Attitudes’ (FINC-NA) questionnaire as well as develop a website for networking purposes which will be linked to the IFNA website.
For more information about the UK and Ireland IFNA Chapter, contact IFNA member Dr. Veronica Swallow or Beth Kassalen in the IFNA Office.
NEW: November 2020: The IFNA UK and Ireland Chapter launched a new website and a new Twitter handle: @IFNAUKIreland.
