Professional Nurse Advocate (PNA)

Home Roles Nurses Nurse-Mid Career Professional Nurse Advocate (PNA)

What is Professional Nurse Advocate?

The Professional Nurse Advocate (PNA) is a clinical leadership and advocacy role. Launched in March 2021, The PNA programme delivers training and restorative supervision for colleagues right across England. This was the start of a critical point of recovery: for patients, for services and for our workforce.

PNA training provides those on the programme with skills to facilitate restorative supervision to their colleagues and teams, in nursing and beyond. A version of this programme exists already for maternity colleagues, where outcomes point to improved staff wellbeing and retention, alongside improved patient outcomes. The training equips them to listen and to understand challenges and demands of fellow colleagues, and to lead support and deliver quality improvement initiatives in response.

This programme is the first of its kind for nursing not just in England, but across the world, and we are keen to measure and share its impact. We will commission an economic evaluation and independent research for this programme.

How can a Professional Nurse Advocate support you in practice?

The role supports staff through a continuous improvement process that builds personal and professional clinical leadership and supports professional revalidation. The PNA also supports by:

  • Deploying the A-EQUIP model.
  • Supporting and developing the nurse advocacy role
  • Guiding and supporting nurses through actions that will benefit other nurses, patients, and families.
  • Facilitating support and feedback to improve, advance and solidify the capabilities of the nursing workforce.

Restorative Clinical Supervision 

The aim of RCS is to offer staff a safe environment to process experiences, reflect constructively, study options and increase levels of resilience. This in turn empowers individuals to recognise what actions they can take to improve their working life and reduce stress.

The A- Equip model

Advocating and Educating for QUality ImProvement) model stems from the three functions of clinical supervision in Brigid Proctor’s 1987 clinical supervision model that is commonly used in health services:

  • Normative
  • Formative
  • Restorative
  • Personal action and quality improvement

The PNA Course

A Level 7 accredited training programme

Entry criteria: 

  • A registered nurse with the NMC,
  • Band 5 or above working in a patient-facing clinical role within a healthcare setting providing NHS-commissioned care,
  • Evidence of previous level 6 study.

If you are interested in becoming a Professional Nurse Advocate or would like to discuss having some Restorative Clinical Supervision sessions, please email amy.yeoman1@nhs.net or charlotte.darby6@nhs.net