2020 Queen’s Nurse programme under way

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