Head of Leadership Programmes, Emma Legge gives us a round up of the recent Burdett Trust for Nursing Symposium in London. Emma was joined by four of the 2023 Queen’s Nurse cohort whose work is focused on Cardiovascular health.
After a warm welcome by Dame Christine Beasley Trustee for Burdett TFN, delegates were invited to listen to keynote speaker Dr Amelia Latu Afuhaamango Tuipulotu, CNO of the WHO presented some stark figures around global Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and the difference nurses can make on the front line, as a trusted profession, followed by Christine Hancock, founder and director of C3 Collaborating for Health, who explained how the social determinants of health (social, economic and environmental) contribute to NCDs. Christine also highlighted the work of QNIS in helping nurses to work with their local communities to promote community cohesion and better health.
There followed a round table event during which representatives from this 2023 Queen’s Nurse cohort presented an overview of their projects looking at the primary prevention of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). This generated rich discussion, with lots of interest from delegates, and an opportunity for Q&A’s. The projects ranged from improving physical health for those with severe and enduring mental ill-health, promoting prevention of CVD in a prison community, exploring opportunistic health screening and the use of Atrial Fibrillation technologies in stroke prevention and supporting families with healthier weaning in deprived communities.
The event offered fantastic networking opportunities and several delegates approached the Queen’s Nurses to hear more about their projects, discuss future opportunities for collaboration and information sharing.
Professor Aisha Holloway presented a session on Nursing Now Challenge. Championing leadership development opportunities for students and early career nurses and midwives globally and invited two nurses to share their experiences of the programme.
A panel of nurses from the front line described projects they’ve initiated or been involved in to address NCDs. This included Alison Bunce, Queen’s Nurse who has worked on several innovative and successful projects. Questions for the panel were then invited from the audience.
The event had a focus on oral health, Adrain Amin, LD Nurse, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust appealed for more focus on health care professionals including nurses offering and administering better oral care, particularly to people with learning disabilities.
Representatives from QNIS were grateful to The Burdett Trust for Nursing for the invitation to attend the symposium and for the opportunity to share their projects and the progress made already, which is inspiring given the projects are still in their infancy.
Emma shared her thoughts on the event,
The event was both sobering and inspiring, the work needed to tackle NCDs, which result in a shocking number of avoidable deaths globally, is significant, however, it was clear there exists no shortage of dedicated, driven and innovative nurses, along with others, working tirelessly to help tackle issues both locally and globally. I felt proud as ever to be a nurse and was reminded of what nurses can do for good when they unite with passion and tenacity.
Leave a Reply