‘Celebrating our amazing nurses across Lincolnshire’ writes ULHT’s director of nursing
Shining the light on nursing is the focus of this month’s health column, written by Dr Karen Dunderdale, who is the director of nursing for ULHT and LCHS. She writes:
International Nurses Day takes place every year on May 12, which is Florence Nightingale’s birthday.
This day provides a platform to celebrate the significant role that nurses and nursing plays across the globe.
This year, we are celebrating the difference nurses make every day.
The day is an opportunity to pause and reflect on the incredible contribution that nurses and nursing have made over the last year.
Although we are three years on from the first national lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, nurses have continued to work together to deliver care under the most extreme and challenging of circumstances.
Nurses across our hospitals and community services in Lincolnshire have developed and delivered new care pathways in response to changing demands and have maintained staffing and equipment levels to deliver ongoing essential services.
All nurses have adapted to the changing environment and landscape of care to keep ourselves and our patients safe, and yet crucially still offer accessible, person-centred and holistic care.
In Lincolnshire, we are shining a light on nursing and the vital role of nurses. Being recognised, appreciated, and valued has felt incredibly important for our nurses.
One way we have done this is that both United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) and Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) have invested in the recruitment of nurses and over this year, and we intend to collectively recruit up to 470 more nurses from both the UK and internationally over the next year.
Nursing is a unique profession. It is built on compassion and kindness. We work with our patients to empower them to live their best lives and fight for them when they need us. Nurses are highly skilled, multi-faceted professionals from a host of backgrounds that represent our diverse communities.
Nursing is steeped in history and tradition, and pushes for advances in healthcare, balancing the latest science and technology with the reality of patient experiences, just as Florence did. As nurses take on even more advanced roles and skills, it’s clear that there really is no limit to where our careers can go.
Let me end by thanking my nursing colleagues across Lincolnshire and beyond for everything that they do. As the Director of Nursing at ULHT and LCHS, I am immensely proud of our profession and recognise the impact that nursing colleagues make every day.