I have enjoyed cycling ever since I was a child. Coming from Cornwall it was just as easy to get around on a bike as any other mode of transport. I began to use my bike for my commute to work while based in a large hospital in the south of England, because, finding a…
Speaking About Drinking
In March 2022, the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland conducted an online survey about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). This was a Year 1 activity of Healthier Pregnancies, Better Lives (HPBL) – a QNIS programme supported by Cattanach and The National Lottery Community Fund. All community nurses and midwives anywhere in Scotland were eligible to participate…
Boundaries matter for self-care
As nurses, we are all too familiar with the need to set professional boundaries within our role. Details of these professional boundaries can be found in the NMC code, but those aren’t the boundaries I want to discuss in this blog. This piece is about the boundaries we should set to ensure we do not…
FASD is becoming more of a concern for community nurses and midwives
In March 2022, the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland conducted an online survey about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). This was a Year 1 activity of Healthier Pregnancies, Better Lives (HPBL) – a QNIS programme supported by Cattanach and The National Lottery Community Fund. All community nurses and midwives anywhere in Scotland were eligible to participate…
Preconception health was a Ruairidh success!
Some transitions are more than memorable; they are life-changing. Graduating from university last year would have been a treasured memory under any circumstances, and yet, what made it transformational wasn’t that I achieved a first-class honours degree in Food Nutrition and Health at Abertay University. It was Ruairidh’s birth. With my degree in one hand…
Experience of the RCN Nursing Awards
The deadline for entries to the 2022 RCN Nursing Awards has been extended. Applications and nominations must be received before Wednesday 20th April 2022. The prestigious RCN Nursing Awards are open for entries, offering Queen’s Nurses an opportunity to share their practice nationally and internationally and shine a spotlight on nursing excellence in the community.…
Vitamin D: Scotland’s much-needed sunshine supplement
This blog is co-authored by Fiona MacKay, a retired nurse who worked for Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service for nearly 20 years and is now working as a vaccinator in NHS Lothian, and Helga Rhein, a retired Edinburgh GP, who worked at Muirhouse Medical Group, Access Practice and latterly at Sighthill Health Centre, before volunteering…
Physical activity before the first or next pregnancy
Dr Zhong Eric Chen, Reproductive Health Researcher and Fitness Instructor is a member of the Healthier Pregnancies, Better Lives steering group. His blog tackles the importance of physical activity in relation to pregnancy and pre-conception health. In writing my first-ever blog, I acknowledge the possible sensitivity in talking about physical activity, weight, (in)fertility, pregnancies, and…
Trauma responsive cervical screening
A recent Catalysts for Change project has received recognition for the development of a trauma-responsive cervical screening programme for women in NHS Forth Valley who have experienced sexual trauma. Project Lead and Gender-Based Violence & Sexual Assault Nurse Hazel Somerville talks about winning the Innovations in Improving Physical Health & Wellbeing and Overall Winners award…
The therapeutic benefits of yoga
Lorraine Close is the Outreach Director at Edinburgh Community Yoga, she recalls a conversation with Clare Cable about her role as a nurse and how she has continued this into the community by supporting disenfranchised groups to have access to yoga and along with it effective stress and wellbeing techniques to apply in everyday life. ‘With…
