Launch of the Year of the Nurse and Midwife
Professor Anne Marie Rafferty, Head of the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery at King’s gave a speech to nurses and midwives on Tuesday 19 January at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust who began their Florence Nightingale centenary celebrations with the launch of The Year of the Nurse and Midwife.
Throughout 2010, nurses and midwives at the Trust will be hosting events, exhibitions and other activities across the hospitals to mark 100 years since the death of the iconic nurse, Florence Nightingale. The school she established, which at the time was the world’s first professional school of nursing, is also marking its 150th anniversary this year.
The launch event at St Thomas’ was attended by Professor Anne-Marie Rafferty, and hundreds of staff and guests and marked the start of a year-long programme of activities. The Trust has put together a programme of events with each month taking a different theme of nursing and midwifery practice. The School will also be involved in an interactive education week in June where there will be an exhibition of all things educational – including exam papers, competence assessment books and past curriculums.
The Trust’s Chief Nurse Eileen Sills said: ‘These events will give us an opportunity to reflect on the progress nursing and midwifery has made in the hundred years since Florence’s death. We have over 3,000 nurses and midwives at the Trust, and we will all be celebrating the enormous contributions made to the delivery of healthcare not just at Guy’s and St Thomas’, but throughout the world.’
As well as listening to engaging and enlightening speeches from Eileen Sills and Anne Marie Rafferty, the audience was treated to a role play from various members of senior staff, reminiscing on their earlier nursing days and giving insights into the history of the profession. Alongside this special event in Governors’ Hall at St Thomas’, an exhibition was erected in Central Hall displaying everything from old uniforms to equipment and medication.
Professor Anne Marie Rafferty said: ‘It was an honour to have been invited to speak at the launch of the Year of the Nurse and Midwife in what is also an important anniversary year for the School. Part of Florence Nightingale’s great impact in nursing and midwifery rested on her powers as a communicator. She was deft in crafting her message for different audiences and moving them to action. 150 years since the founding of the Nightingale School we are carrying on her tradition and updating it for our students and the 21st Century nurse and midwife.’