General Practice Nurses – Dorset Community of Practice Update September 2026
The Lopez Lowdown
A blog by Nikki Lopez, GPN fellow (Nurse Manager for SCMG and Respiratory Nurse Specialist.)
Students, WhatsApp and Legs!
Dear Colleagues,
I hope you enjoyed the first GPN Dorset newsletter. We would really value your feedback, so if you have any comments, suggestions or ideas for future editions, please do let us know.
NMC Review of Student Practice Learning
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is reviewing how nursing, midwifery and nursing associate students undertake practice learning.
This is particularly relevant to us in General Practice Nursing, as one of the key areas being considered is increasing students’ exposure to community-based care.
The review aims to ensure that future nurses continue to develop the evidence-based knowledge, practical skills and professional behaviours they need within safe and inclusive learning environments.
One of the most significant proposals for nursing is a reduction in the minimum number of programme hours for pre-registration nursing programmes from 4,600 hours to 3,600 hours.
For General Practice Nursing, there is also a real opportunity here. If more emphasis is placed on community-based practice learning, we need to make sure General Practice has a strong voice in that conversation.
Primary care offers nursing students exposure to prevention, long-term condition management, health inequalities, vaccination and immunisation, wound care, respiratory disease, diabetes, women’s health, health promotion and increasingly complex patients living with multiple conditions.
If we want newly qualified nurses to see General Practice Nursing as a genuine first career choice, rather than something they discover several years after qualifying, we need to give students meaningful exposure to primary care during their training.
GPN Dorset WhatsApp Group – Now Live!
One of the key themes from our recent survey was that many General Practice Nurses can feel professionally isolated at times. To help address this, we have set up a GPN Dorset WhatsApp Group.
The aim is to create a supportive, friendly and non-judgemental space where GPNs across Dorset can ask quick clinical questions, seek advice, share knowledge and support one another.
Sometimes you don’t need a formal meeting or an email chain, you just need to be able to ask another GPN:
“Has anyone dealt with this before?”
or
“Can anyone point me in the right direction?”
We have a wealth of knowledge across Dorset, and by working together we can make sure no GPN feels they have to face challenges alone.
Please remember that the group is for professional peer support and no patient-identifiable information should ever be shared.
If you would like to join the WhatsApp group, please sign up using the link below:
The more GPNs who take part, the more useful the network will become.
Training opportunity! Necessary and Immediate Care and the Red Flags in Leg Ulcers
Our first community of practice education session will also be taking place soon, and we would love you to join us.
Topic: Necessary and Immediate Care and the Red Flags in Leg Ulcers
Hosted by: Cathy Ulner, Complex Leg Ulcer Team Lead and Specialist Leg Ulcer Nurse
Date: Thursday 1 October
Time: 1:00 pm
This will be a great opportunity to refresh our knowledge around recognising the red flags in lower-limb wounds, knowing when escalation is required and understanding what constitutes necessary and immediate care.
GPN Legacy Mentor Opportunity
Are you interested in supporting and developing fellow nurses? Applications are now open for the next Legacy Mentoring Programme, offering a paid opportunity to mentor colleagues, share your experience and help strengthen the future GPN workforce.
Building Our GPN Community
It has been fantastic to see the response to the Community of Practice so far.
The aim isn’t to create another layer of meetings or emails. It is to create something genuinely useful for GPNs, a network where we can connect, learn, ask questions, share experience and support each other.
General Practice Nursing can sometimes feel professionally isolated, particularly when you may be the only nurse undertaking a particular role within your practice. By connecting nurses across Dorset, we have an opportunity to make that professional network much stronger.
Together, these initiatives will improve communication, increase collaboration and help ensure that every GPN in Dorset feels connected, informed and supported throughout their professional journey.
We look forward to welcoming you to both the WhatsApp community and our education sessions.
If you have any questions, email: dorsetpcth@dorsetgp.nhs.uk
Nikki Lopez
Dorset GPN Workforce Clinical Fellow