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First time voting member at Congress

Rachel Desai 9 Jun 2023

I attended Congress for the first time this year and was invited to be a voting member for the Pain and Palliative Care Forum. The following blog explains why I think every RCN member should attend Congress at least once in their career.

I've been wanting to engage more with national ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ issues for some time now. My passion is providing holistic pain management to children and young people. All children and young people should have access to effective pain assessment and management, wherever they are in the United Kingdom. By joining the Pain and Palliative Care Forum I have been able to link in with other members and share expertise.

Attending RCN Congress gave me the opportunity to be part of making a difference; being able to use my vote to influence change. A highlight for me was voting to lobby the Government to stop 'Corridor Care'. Thankfully this is not an issue in paediatrics but as a nurse it felt so rewarding to stand alongside my adult ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ colleagues and push for this change.

Congress is more than just debates. Fringe sessions allowed for smaller groups to discuss specialist topics, such as supporting paediatric mental health, changes to student education or how to communicate with people with dementia. In addition were the key note speakers who were all incredibly interesting to listen to - Caroline Lucas discussing the Green Party's views on the NHS, Pat Cullen, our RCN General Secretary and the amazing Shani Dhanda on her experiences of being a patient at Birmingham Children's Hospital, when she was a child, and her role now as a Disability Inclusion specialist.

However the greatest benefit to being in Brighton was networking with my pain and palliative care colleagues. It was apparent that we all share similar values, striving to improve pain management and palliative care for our patients and supporting ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ staff to develop and attain the necessary skills and knowledge to provide this.
I strongly recommend all RCN members to attend Congress, to meet like-minded colleagues, take part in debates and be part of improving ÌÀÍ·ÌõÎÛÁÏ, for patients, their families and for ourselves.

Rachel Desai

Rachel Desai

Committee member

Lead Nurse, Pain Service, Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Trust

Rachel has been a specialist paediatric pain nurse since 2007 and lead of the service since 2012. She provides pain management to all children and young people in Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Page last updated - 07/11/2023