Nurses in Business

There have always been nurses who have left the NHS to become involved in healthcare businesses. Some run nursing homes or nursing agencies; some have set up companies or social enterprises that provide services, education or consultancy. They are a small percentage of the profession, but changes to the structure of the health service, and the increasing scope of professional practice, means that their numbers are growing.

This section of the website contain examples and useful information for nurses who are interested in combining their professional skills with business opportunities.

Case Studies

Care home ownership

Jon Ryland and Mikki Jarvis were recipients of a QNI Innovative & Creative Practice award in 2004 for their project Taking Active Ageing into Care Homes. They have continued their commitment to improving care for older people by opening their own residential care home in Gloucestershire called The Manor House.

Workplace health programmes

Andrew Harrison also won an Innovative & Creative Practice award for this project - Health of Men Weight management project. Andrew has since set up a company with a colleague providing tailored workplace health programmes for Men and Boys - www.menshealthplus.co.uk . They are currently involved in a 3 year contract with Bradford & Airedale PCT, offering anger management support and are delivering health MOTs at Leeds Rhinos rugby league home games for the 2010 season.

Self-employed nurse

Paul Cornforth, a Queen's Nurse, has recently taken the decision to become a self-employed nurse. You can read his advice for others who are considering the same path in an article in 'Independent Nurse' published on 15 March 2010. You need to register on the Healthcare Republic website to read the article online but this is free: http://www.healthcarerepublic.com/news/login/990046/ . Paul's website is http://paulcornforth.co.uk/default.aspx .

Charity hospice - 'Shalom'

Shalom House, a hospice in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, was officially opened in November 2007. It owes its existence to an enterprising Queen's Nurse, Margaret Burnett MBE, and the team of trustees, colleagues and volunteers she brought together to set it up.

The building which houses the hospice was left in trust by a patient of Margaret's, Elizabeth de Guise, to be turned into a hospice for the local community, with Margaret leading the development. While still a working district nurse, Margaret ensured that the trust became a charity, and set up a multi-disciplinary management team. Over the next two years, she and the team organised public consultations, brough in palliative care consultants, secured a high-profile patron, appointed architects and obtained planning permission to turn the seven bendroom bungalow into a hospice. Margaret raised funds through events and talks, and galvanised others into fundraising. Further funds came from grants from the Welsh Assembly Government. The new service had to meet criteria set by the Local Health Board and the registration requirements of the Care and Social Service Inspectorate of Wales.

Services started with palliative day care, and there are plans to extend these to offer 24 hour respite care, in line with the original donor. Shalom House now has a medical director and palliative care sister, and employs nurses, an occupational therapist and support staff, all supported by volunteers. Patients and their families have access to confidential, bilingual counselling service, of which Margaret Burnett was a co-founder.

Margaret says that her Queen's Nurse training, in Manchester in 1964, was instrumental in equipping her for her later achievements. 'It emphasised the need for a holistic approach to nursing - physical, mental, spiritual and the whole person. It helped me to understand how important it is when nursing patients to also support their families and friends.'