‘Telling the Story’, Impacts of the Delivering Dignity Programme in Scotland
Final impact report of the Delivering Dignity Programme.
‘You cannot pour from an empty cup’
In these uncertain and busy times, it can be all too easy to forget to look after yourself. Hilda Campbell, Chief Executive of COPE Scotland and QNIS Honorary Fellow has provided this helpful blog, in addition to our other resources, in order to help you look after yourself. Scotland’s community nurses are playing crucial roles during the COVID19 crisis. You are making a big difference in terms of prevention and early identification, as well as pre and post hospital care. Your diverse ways of providing community care during this pandemic are piled on top of all you were already doing…
2017 Queen’s Nurses – Lean on Me
Ally Lister is a Queen’s Nurse and District Nurse working in Keith and Fochabers. She shares her story of reuniting her 2017 cohort online to create ‘Lean on Me’, a charity cover song to raise funds for QNIS. Everyone has a voice – this statement comes from the heart of someone blessed by having music and singing in her life for as long as she can remember. In February 2017, I had the incredible fortune of being selected as one of 20 candidates that would become the first contemporary Queen’s Nurse (QN) cohort in Scotland. The programme opened with a week long residential gathering. Little did we know, staring around a room full of strangers, that the relationships made…
A Century of Nursing Registration
Tonight (25th November) the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is holding an event to commemorate 100 years of Nursing Registration. To mark this landmark occasion, Alison O’ Donnell, a QNIS Fellow and a member of the QNIS History Committee, has prepared a look back on 100 years of nursing registration in the UK. A century of nurse registration Given that this is the centenary year of nurse registration in 2019, it is timely that this key legislation is considered. The Nurses Registration Act of 1919 was not without controversy nor its critics. The Act(s) were passed in December 1919,…
A day in the life of a trainee health visitor: Leona Flett, RGU
Conference delegate Leona Flett, offers us an insight into a day in the life of a trainee health visitor. Arrive at the office at 8.30am, greet all the team. We need to answer any voicemails and emails and document them in client notes. I usually head over to the maternity unit for 9.00am to collect information on postnatal discharges and new pregnancy booking information.I return to the health visitor’s office and allocate the new discharges (now primary visits) to the relevant health visitors. We then arrange to visit the primaries within four days at home. My mentor and I have…
A day in the life of a trainee health visitor: Leona Flett, RGU
Arrive at the office at 8.30am, greet all the team. We need to answer any voicemails and emails and document them in client notes. I usually head over to the maternity unit for 9.00am to collect information on postnatal discharges and new pregnancy booking information. I return to the health visitor’s office and allocate the new discharges (now primary visits) to the relevant health visitors. We then arrange to visit the primaries within four days at home. My mentor and I have a primary visit planned for 11.00am. We fill out her paperwork prior to the visit, answer any new…
A fair kick o’ the ba’ – #MHNursesday
21 Feb 2019 marks the first ever UK Mental Health Nurses day. The focus of the day is to gather together voices and experiences from across the UK to celebrate, describe and promote Mental Health Nursing. To mark this Mental Health Nurses Day, we asked a number of our friends, Fellows and Queen’s Nurses to write about various aspects around being a mental health nurse. We have three to highlight during the day. Our final piece has been written by Queen’s Nurse Kelvin Frew, and looks at how positive change in mental health nursing can be made with a fair kick…
A Future Frontline Service
Nikki Forsyth, Queen’s Nurse from NHS Grampian shares her views on why Health Visitors are essential keyworkers at this time of pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has required workers across services to be redeployed in order to meet staffing demands and ensure the continued provision of care to those in hospital and unwell during this time. But, is there a greater need for community services such as Health Visiting to remain in their roles? There has been talk about Health Visitors being redeployed to support nursing services and this has happened in some areas, this is understandable as we are…
Adaptability and the Delivery of Person-Centred Care
Gary Docherty is a Consultant Learning Disability Nurse working across Scotland. In his blog Gary discusses the necessity of adaptability within Learning Disability Nursing, especially during COVID-19, to ensure that staff are able to maintain a person-centred approach when delivering care. I am a Consultant Learning Disability Nurse working for an independent sector healthcare provider. My role covers multiple services in Scotland and it already felt varied, interesting, and professionally fulfilling; then COVID-19 happened, and I realised just how much more diverse, challenging, and gratifying this career could become. My role includes delivering the pillars of practice throughout our Scottish…
Angels of Mercy – Eileen Crofton

The author, Dr Eileen Crofton, had a long and distinguished career as a doctor and medical researcher, notably helping to found Action on Smoking and Health, under the auspices of the Royal College of Physicians. In her retirement, she wrote this book, published in 1997 and originally titled “The Women of Royaumont: A Scottish women’s hospital on the western front”. This well-researched book was edited and reissued as a 2nd edition in 2012 by Eileen Crofton’s son, Ian. It tells the story of a Scottish Women’s Hospital of the First World War. The Hospital was the inspiration of Dr Elsie…