The Review of the introduction of the Ward Sister/Charge Nurse Support Officer Role was completed in September 2012. This Review was commissioned by Mary Hinds, Director of Nursing and Allied Health Professionals (AHPs), Public Health Agency (PHA), with the aim of “assessing the impact of the Support Officer role, in releasing the Ward Sister/Charge Nurse to focus on delivering improvements in quality, safety and the patient/client experience; as a result of additional funding from the DHSSPS”. |
The Review team comprised of the Assistant Directors of Nursing (Workforce) from the five HSC Trusts and Fiona Bradley was Project Lead. Click here to view the membership of the Review team. The Final Report was submitted to PHA in September 2012 and is available to view and download from this website.



qualitative feedback from: Ward Sisters/Charge Nurses; Line Managers
and relevant others, and Support Officers, regarding the impact of the
introduction of the Support Officer post on the Ward Sister/Charge
Nurse role. Service user experience will be captured through feedback
from focus groups.

relation to establishment of the Support Officer role against the Trust
implementation plans, using: Trust implementation plan; job
description; date the post was introduced; allocation to wards and hours
worked; induction process and plan for learning and development.