Support you can expect from Florence
We're here for you throughout your professional life. You can rely on us for help in three important areas...
From mentorship and revalidation guidance, to incident help and CPD training, find out how your dedicated team at Florence is here for you at every stage of your nursing or care career.
We're here for you throughout your professional life. You can rely on us for help in three important areas...
Our clinical team of experienced nurses are here to offer you professional help and guidance, and answer any questions you have about your practice.
We offer NMC revalidation and mentorship support, which you can request by getting in touch with our team any time.
Our clinical governance team - run by our Chief Nurse, and supported by governance specialists (including nurses) - investigates all incidents reported to Florence thoroughly and with sensitivity.
If you're a Florence professional involved in an incident, we'll listen to you, look after you, and work to find the best outcome for all parties involved.
We are advocates for our care professionals, and our clear incident management process always treats you with empathy and fairness.
If you're involved in an incident at a hospital or care home, we’ll be there for you every step of the way.
Here's what you can expect to happen:
While it's important to be helpful, engage in the investigation and provide a statement, you should immediately tell Florence’s incident support team by emailing incidents@florence.co.uk.
We'll support you by finding out what the allegation is. Then, we'll get copies of witness statements, MAR charts and other documents that might help you write the statement. We'll also review your statement before it's sent to the service to make sure it's a factual, thorough response to the allegation.
If applicable, tell your union about the investigation – especially if your practice is in question. They may offer a statement-checking service.
You should follow the statement guidance, making sure that you give a full account – including relevant background information. Keep it factual: don't give your opinion about what others may or may not have done. Instead, stick to what you saw or heard personally. Always use professional language rather than slang or offensive language (unless you are directly quoting someone).
If you need any help writing your statement, please get in touch and we'll support you.
You are responsible for documenting the care that you give, and you need a login to do so. You may be given a generic login – for example, “Agency Nurse” instead of a name. If so, write your name at the end of each entry to maintain a clear audit trail of the care you've given.
You should never use someone else’s login or ask someone else to complete care documentation for you. If you're asked to do that, speak to the person in charge and politely explain why it's important for you to have your own login.
If you can't access the system with your own login, please raise this as an incident by telling both the manager at the care home or hospital and Florence.
Make sure you read the healthcare organisation description before you commit to working a shift. If you find out the healthcare organisation description isn't accurate when you arrive for your shift, that could be because resident needs or occupancy have changed.
If you're not comfortable taking extra responsibility, don't accept the keys and call Florence immediately. If you feel overwhelmed partway through the shift, raise your concerns with both Florence and the service manager to get support. Under those circumstances, you will need to complete the full shift.
In both cases, you should create an incident report to help stop the situation happening again.
Don’t panic! Around three-quarters of NMC referrals are closed at the initial screening stage.
Tell us straight away and one of our governance nurses will support you and help identify any training needs, reflection and remediation.
While it's important to be helpful and engage with the investigation, you should immediately tell Florence’s incident support team by emailing incidents@florence.co.uk.
We'll support you by finding out what the allegation is. Then, we'll get copies of witness statements, MAR charts and other documents that might help you prepare for the meeting. Sometimes, we can help you write a really detailed statement, which might mean you no longer have to attend the meeting.
If applicable, tell your union about the investigation – especially if your practice is in question.
This is not an investigatory meeting or anything to be concerned about: it's just a video meeting with a Florence governance team professional.
It's similar to a “supervision”, but there will only be two of you on the call. We use calls like this to find out more information after you've provided a statement, or to share training resources if we've identified a learning need.
Always report your concerns, even if you're unsure about specifics. You can report to incidents@florence.co.uk through Florence’s Freedom to Speak Up Officer. Florence also has a Raising Concerns and Whistleblowing policy.
We rarely need to place someone’s account under review because of an incident. When this happens, it is either because you haven't given us a statement, or because serious allegations have been made about the way you practice.
In the second scenario, it might be too risky for you to keep working for Florence while the investigation is ongoing. Placing your account under review could help protect you from further allegations.
We support care professionals and healthcare organisations involved in incidents by phone, email and video call. To get support, email incidents@florence.co.uk during office hours and we'll arrange a call back. If you encounter an emergency while on shift, please contact the on-call team via the Florence app.
When we close an investigation, we email all people involved and tell them about the outcome, unless doing so breaches confidentiality. We'll normally contact the person who reported the incident and the witnesses that we spoke to during the investigation.
If we ask you to write a reflective account, we've identified a gap in your knowledge and want you to do some extra training. We need to make sure you've learned from the incident and know what you'd do differently to stop something similar happening again.
If you're a registered nurse, we recommend using the NMC template for reflection. You can also use this template for revalidation. If you're a care assistant or support worker, click here to download a reflective account template.
Investigating "near misses" is just as important as investigating adverse events. Learning from them could prevent a more serious incident – or a fatality. Near miss reports provide vital information about working conditions and processes, as well as highlighting areas that might need attention so they don't become a problem.
If you think you've been maliciously accused, write a thorough statement about the allegations anyway. Keep it factual, rather than emotional. If you believe there's a reason someone might have made up an allegation about you, please include this in your statement and we'll investigate.
Our dedicated clinical governance team supports you and handles incident reports. Here, find out a little bit more about the people who make up the team.
Fiona Millington has been the chief nurse at Florence since 2019. She oversees the professional development and governance of Florence nurses, care assistants and support workers.
Part of her role is to keep an eye on professional standards within Florence and review adverse events that happen in clinical settings. Fiona works closely with external regulators like the NMC and has a special interest in mentoring and professional development.
Mohammed has been the deputy data protection officer and governance lead at Florence since 2018.
He's in charge of the incident management system, deals with adverse events correctly and effectively, and supports care professionals through investigations. He also works with external bodies like the NMC, police and safeguarding.
Lauren has been the governance support manager at Florence since December 2022.
She works closely with care professionals to make sure incidents get handled quickly and efficiently. She also takes care of Florence policies and helps prepares for regulatory audits, like those conducted by the Care Inspectorate.
Louise is an adult nurse with over 20 years experience. She manages clinical incidents and often meets care professionals virtually to offer support or clarify if incidents are complicated.
Part of her role is to look at lessons learned from clinical incidents. This includes making changes to Florence policies and training content. Louise loves to meet Florence nurses, care assistants and support workers, and hear their ideas to improve practice.
Jen is the branch nurse and registered manager for Florence in Scotland. She's been a registered nurse for 14 years and has been working as a clinical lead for the last 5 years.
She supports Scottish nurses with clinical issues and keeping professional registrations up to date through supervisions, appraisals, revalidation support and incident management.
Gary is the branch nurse for Florence in Northern Ireland. He’s been a registered nurse for 10 years and has worked with Brain Injury, Care of the Elderly, Intensive Care, Infection Prevention and Control.
He supports Northern Irish Nurses with clinical issues and to maintain their professional registration through supervisions, appraisals, re-validation, support and management of clinical incidents.
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