Foreword – Executive Nurse Director, Alison Macdonald

Our new Nursing and Midwifery Strategic Plan (2023 – 2028) is designed to address some of the key challenges for the professions and the Board and to ensure NHS Lothian is equipped with a strong, compassionate, empowered and highly skilled workforce, enabling the delivery of best outcomes for people.

It is important that Nursing and Midwifery professionals recognise the key role they play in achieving the local and national objectives alongside NHS Lothian’s Strategic Development Framework 2022-2027. This plan underpins our ambitions for NHS Lothian to become a great place to work and a great place to be cared for.

When we talk about ‘our communities’, we are referring firstly to the community of patients/clients that we care for; and we are also talking about our communities of nurses and midwives who work in many different sectors and settings across NHS Lothian. We are immensely proud of the Nursing and Midwifery professions because of the professionalism, dedication and desire to provide quality and compassionate care, whilst working in some of the most difficult circumstances.

We are devoted to ensuring that people are at the focus of what we do and that the experience of patients, staff and those who use our services are at the heart of what matters.