Queen’s Nurse title bestowed on 24 leading community staff in Scotland

They have completed the nine-month Queen’s Nurse Development Programme (QNDP) and were awarded the accompanying title during a ceremony on 24 November in Edinburgh.

“These 24 exceptional individuals can be deservedly proud of being awarded this prestigious title”

Clare Cable

The programme, which is run by the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland (QNIS), consists of residential and online workshops alongside individual coaching sessions.

It requires participants to choose an issue for development which will have a significant impact on those they care for, so that the learning during the nine months is applied in practice.

There is an expectation that this work will have a focus on promoting equity and inclusion, highlighted the QNIS.

During the ceremony, each Queen’s Nurse received a Queen’s Nurse badge designed by Silversmiths Ortak, a certificate and a specifically commissioned Harris Tweed sash or tie.

The QNIS is a registered charity that was established in 1889 thanks to a donation from Queen Victoria on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee.

The charity noted that the Queen’s Nurse title in Scotland dated back to that period, when nurses completed specific training that allowed them to work as district nurses.

Following the introduction of a national certificate for district nursing, the QNIS ceased training and awarded the original QN District Nursing title for the final time in 1969.

However, the Queen’s Nurse title was reintroduced to Scotland in 2017, with 20 community nurses chosen to take part in a development programme.

There are now over 150 contemporary Queen’s Nurses working across Scotland, according to the QNIS. It relies on funding from charitable trusts and donations to run the QNDP.

Of the latest group, the Burdett Trust for Nursing funded four candidates who focused their learning on primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, and the Dunhill Medical Trust supported six nurses working with older people.

The NHS Lothians Charity funded a nurse from NHS Lothian and another candidate was funded by a scholarship from the General Nursing Council. Scotland’s Gardens Scheme also supports the QNDP.

Clare Cable, QNIS chief executive and nurse director, said: “These 24 exceptional individuals can be deservedly proud of being awarded this prestigious title.

“From the late 1880s, Queen’s Nurses were social reformers who were taking public health into people’s homes to help families take better care of themselves,” she said.

“The modern Queen’s Nurses are building on this proud heritage – sharing this pioneering spirit to improve the health and wellbeing of the communities of Scotland,” said Ms Cable.

She added: “Their roles vary, from bringing care to those who have experienced significant adversity to supporting people in mental distress or end of life care.

“They represent the geography of Scotland, from rural communities and small islands to concentrated areas within the big cities, but they all demonstrate nursing and midwifery excellence.”

In October, a group of eight learning disability nurses, who completed the QNDP in 2021, won the Learning Disabilities Nursing category at this year’s Nursing Times Awards.

As well as the Queen’s Nurse awards, QNIS Fellowship awards were presented at the event at the Sheraton Grand Hotel.

These went to Fiona Coutts, for her contribution to the work of QNIS during her time as a trustee, and to Kathy Kenmuir, in recognition of her ongoing advocacy for community nursing.