A group of 20 community nurses have embarked on the nine-month Queen’s Nurse development programme after gathering for a residential learning week.
The 2020 programme welcomes nurses working in huge variety of roles in communities across Scotland.
The candidates were selected to take part in the programme, now in its fourth year, and they were brought together for the first time at Balbirnie house in Fife last week.
Nurses working in care homes, community hospitals and in people’s homes across the country are included in the group. A nurse working in a prison features in the Queen’s Nurse cohort for the first time.
Health visiting, practice-based nursing and district nursing are all represented within the 2020 cohort as well as specialists in multiple sclerosis, community paediatrics and mental health.
Community nurses bringing their clinical expertise to specialisms such as addictions, perinatal mental health and learning disabilities are also part of the group.
As part of the 2020 Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, QNIS is taking part in the Nightingale Challenge – an initiative launched by Nursing Now to inspire the next generation of leaders.
Employers were encouraged to nominate nurses and midwives aged 35 and under for the QN programme. QNIS is playing its part to achieve the global aim of developing at least 20,000 younger leaders in 2020.
There are eight candidates in the Queen’s Nurse 2020 cohort aged 35 or under.
All candidates were nominated by their organisations for demonstrating high quality, compassionate care. They completed a written application and were chosen to go forward for the programme after attending a selection event where they impressed a panel of nursing leaders.
The programme consists of the week-long residential, which involves masterclasses, small group learning and conversations with inspirational leaders, as well as two further workshops held throughout the year before they are presented with their Queen’s Nurse award in November.
Each nurse commits to developing an issue which will have an impact on their practice and benefit their community, which they work on through monthly coaching during the nine months.
The 2020 Queen’s Nurse Candidates are detailed below
| Name | Role | Employer |
| Claire Adamson | Community Mental Health Nurse | NHS Fife |
| Lisa Benson | Lead Nurse for Substance Abuse in Prison | NHS Grampian |
| Gill Dennes | Advanced Nurse Practitioner (GPN) | Coast Health, GP Practice |
| Nicola Dow | Deputy Manager (Care Home) | Royal Blind |
| Karen Drummond | Community Charge Nurse, Perinatal mental health | NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde |
| Keara Farrell | Charge Nurse, Thornhill Cottage Hospital | NHS Dumfries & Galloway |
| Kelly Frame | Community Learning Disability Nurse | NHS Lanarkshire |
| Liz Gillespie | Senior Nurse, Community Paediatrics | NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde |
| James Hill | Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Addiction Services | NHS Ayrshire & Arran |
| Andrea Johnstone | Senior Charge Nurse (Community Hospital) | NHS Borders |
| Annie Macdonald | District Nurse | NHS Western Isles |
| Annie Maclean | District Nurse | NHS Highland |
| Inger McGowan | Nurse Case Manager, Women’s community justice | NHS Lothian |
| Oonagh McPherson | Team Leader for Intensive Outreach Service, CAMHS | NHS Tayside |
| Rachel Morrison | MS Specialist Nurse | NHS Western Isles |
| Inga Pirie | District Nurse | NHS Orkney |
| Fiona Ralph | Rehabilitation and Enablement Team Lead | NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde |
| Karen Ritchie | SCN, older people’s mental health crisis response team | NHS Lothian |
| Emma Visca | Senior Health Visitor | NHS Dumfries & Galloway |
| Sally Walton | SCN, Community Children’s Nurse Team | NHS Dumfries & Galloway |
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