Craig’s Considerations:
My reflections on the issues affecting the nursing profession and society.
#HelloMyNameIs Craig
I am my niblings’ Uncle Craig.
I am also a Registered Nurse (Adult) working as a Senior Asylum-Seeker Health Nurse at the Asylum Health Bridging Team for Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership.
I graduated with a first-class BSc (Hons) Nursing Studies degree from Glasgow Caledonian University in August 2020 where I received the Ross Hall Prize for academic excellence and achievement upon graduation. I am currently undertaking a postgraduate qualification in integrating mental health and professional practice at the University of Dundee.
My openly documented lived experience of childhood internalised homophobia, mental health and addiction struggles fuel me to ensure nobody feels “different” or unworthy. These core values define me as a person and a nurse, influencing my overarching aim to strive for equity of access, and equitable, holistic, inclusive treatment for all diverse, intersectional populations, creating socially just local, national and global healthcare systems. I sit on NHS Scotland’s Pride badge initiative working group.
In addition to developing cultural competence for all nursing staff, I am interested in quality improvement and service development, global and public health policy, and leadership and management.
I believe all health and social care professionals should be politically aware and engaged to enable advocacy for the communities we serve. I am part of the We Are Global Nurses campaign group, who campaigned for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to rejoin the International Council of Nurses.
I also sit on the RCN Nurses in Management and Leadership Forum’s steering committee. I was Scottish representative on the RCN Students’ Committee from 2018 to 2019. And assumed the chair’s tenure in 2019. I also helped establish the RCN Newly Registered Nurses Network as a working group member.
I co-host the award-winning podcast, “Retaining the Passion: Journeys Through Nursing”, with my friend and fellow registered nurse Clare Manley. We discuss and hope to shed light on critical issues affecting the nursing profession and society more broadly by speaking to guests about their lived experiences.
As a nursing student, I was a Student Nursing Times editor. I was also a member of the Scottish Government’s Country Specific Working Group for the Year of the Nurse and Midwife 2020. In 2018, @WeNurses included me in their list of #100OutstandingNurses, one of only three student nurses included. I was also honoured to be the Student Nursing Times’ Student Nurse of the Year (Adult) Award recipient in 2019.
My Latest Posts
- Why UK governments must stop using the NHS as a political football to gain populist momentum and owe health and social care staff a restorative pay rise.
The NHS Workers United for Scotland rally on July 23rd, 2022, called to reject all UK governments’ proposed pay deal for NHS ‘Agenda for Change’ workers. We demand a restorative pay rise to protect patient safety by enabling us to retain and recruit more health and social care staff. And to recognise the graduate status… Read more: Why UK governments must stop using the NHS as a political football to gain populist momentum and owe health and social care staff a restorative pay rise. - Modern Bill of Rights
The Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) Nurses in Management and Leadership Forum proposed an Emergency Resolution (Debate 28) at the annual RCN Congress debating the UK Government’s proposed Modern Bill of Rights. Thank you so much to all RCN Forum members who supported the writing of this Resolution. An extra special thank you to Jean… Read more: Modern Bill of Rights - Why there must be a statement ensuring all Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Members will be made to feel psychologically safe when contributing at RCN Congress 2022.
Today at the RCN Annual General Meeting, I felt compelled to make an ask of the College. “As an RCN member, I appreciate the College and the Chief Executive and General Secretary, Pat Cullen’s recommitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in the wake of the KPMG Report; also in Pat’s blog on the eve of… Read more: Why there must be a statement ensuring all Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Members will be made to feel psychologically safe when contributing at RCN Congress 2022. - Section 28 (2.0): why we can’t be willfully blind or performative allies & who benefits from the polarisation of sex versus gender?
In the light of a right-wing mainstream media driving a flailing UK government’s sinister rhetoric on trans rights, in an attempt to regain populism, we need allies to stop being performative and others to stop being willfully blind as we careen toward Section 28 2.0. We need to ask who benefits from the polarisation of sex versus gender? - Clinical Supervision: why we need it but need to sort it out.I passionately believe in the benefits of clinical supervision for nurses from all fields of practice, and I wanted to share my takeaways and opinions regarding clinical supervision and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Forums’ “Barriers to overcoming the barriers” scoping review exploring 30 years of clinical supervision literature” published in the Journal of Advanced… Read more: Clinical Supervision: why we need it but need to sort it out.
- Why we must invest in our future nursing leadersNursing is my past, present and future. After a twelve-year career as an actor, I now follow in my registered nurse mother’s footsteps, working as an early-career public health community staff nurse with newly arrived asylum seekers, some of our society’s most disadvantaged members. I believe we must invest in tomorrow’s nursing leaders because we… Read more: Why we must invest in our future nursing leaders
- Retaining the Passion: When Mistakes Happen.Clare and Craig catch up and discuss their reasoning for choosing the episode title, “When Mistakes Happen”. They discuss whether universities … Retaining the Passion: When Mistakes Happen.
- Men into Nursing Campaigns: Why My Opinion Has Evolved.I was very kindly asked to write this blog post for the Royal College of Nursing’s Feminist Network. Fact: nursing is an evidenced-based profession; as we traverse throughout our university nursing education, we learn to be a nurse whilst honing our critical thinking skills. When I took to the stage, speaking in favour of the… Read more: Men into Nursing Campaigns: Why My Opinion Has Evolved.
- Retaining the Passion: Violence Against Women – But Nothing Really Happened.WARNING: This episode may be potentially emotional or triggering for some of our listeners. Please take care of yourself first and foremost and reach… Retaining the Passion: Violence Against Women – But Nothing Really Happened.
- Violence against and society’s treatment of women: why men need to acknowledge, address and own these issues.I suppose it fits that this blog is coming out on Mother’s Day because I dedicate this blog post as a love letter to my mum, the woman who has played the most significant role in shaping me into the man I am today. But I dedicate it not only to my mum but to… Read more: Violence against and society’s treatment of women: why men need to acknowledge, address and own these issues.
Craig’s Considerations 