News

Back to previous page

The Coalition of National Nursing Organisations (CoNNO) today announced the appointment of its’ inaugural Council, marking a new stage in governance for the group of more than 50 national nursing organisations.

CoNNO Chair Kim Ryan said the establishment of a Council was an important step for the group, whose coalition has been meeting in an informal manner since 1991 to share information and ideas to guide the development of professional nursing specialties.

The group includes 52 nursing organisations representing more than 200,000 nurses who work in almost every area of specialist practice and are spread right across Australia. 

The cooperation of organisations through the coalition is very important to the development of national standards and directions for the nursing profession, and contributes significantly to the safety and quality of health care, Ms Ryan said.

The coalition has demonstrated considerable leadership in the health professions already, Ms Ryan said, with the coalition auspicing the development of Governance Standards for Nursing and Midwifery Organisations, believed to be the first set of governance standards developed specifically for health professionals in Australia. The governance standards and an accompanying toolkit are available on the Coalition’s website and are freely available for use by any health professional organisation seeking to improve their governance practice.

“As health professional organisations developing clinical guidelines and professional practice standards, we see it as vitally important to be able to demonstrate that the organisations developing those standards are utilising sound governance practices in the way their organisations are governed and run,” Ms Ryan said. “This coalition provides support to its members, many of whom are small organisations with modest budgets, to share resources and information to improve their governance and thus demonstrate they have the capacity to develop appropriate clinical standards which can contribute to the quality and safety of care.”

A new coalition website www.conno.org.au has been launched, which provides a central point for people looking for information or advice from a vast range of specialist nurses, Ms Ryan said.

“Many government and industry bodies that require the representation of specialist nurses on committees and advisory groups now have one central point to find information and contact details for expert nursing groups,” Ms Ryan said.

Recent position statements have been developed by the Coalition on two of its strategic priorities: research and e-health, Ms Ryan said.

“These papers demonstrate how the coalition will make an important contribution to health policy development, with recommendations on boosting the capacity of nursing research and improving access, support and training for nurses in IT systems,” Ms Ryan said.

Contact: CoNNO Chair Kim Ryan 0417 289 189

Position statements available at www.conno.org.au