Prince of Wales recognises the 'vital' work of nurses
On Wednesday 30th October, HRH the Prince of Wales hosted a morning reception for the 2013 Nursing Times Awards shortlisted nominees at his home, Clarence House.
At the reception the Prince took the opportunity to hail the dedication and hard work of the nation's nurses, saying they give "exceptional care" to patients across the country.
His Royal Highness greeted and chatted with the shortlisted nominees for the awards, including Angela Parry, Director of Clinical Education, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery (pictured talking with the Prince).
Angela and her team, including Jayne Frisby, Lecturer, Interprofessional Education, Division of Medical Education, and Elena Hernandez-Martin, Senior E-Learning Content Developer Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning and Philip Blake, Learning Technologist, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, were shortlisted for the 2013 Nursing Times Improving Patient Safety Award for their interprofessional e-learning project: Keeping patients safe from medication errors.
Nurse Victoria Harmer, a breast cancer nurse specialist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London, and a student of the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, also attended the Prince’s reception. Victoria went on to take the coveted Cancer Nursing Award at the glitzy Nursing Times ceremony, hosted at Grosvenor House, later that evening.
Victoria is pictured above accepting her award with Jenni Middleton, Editor of the Nursing Time magazine, and Stephen Richard, Director for England, Macmillan Cancer Support.
In recognition of the important role nurses play in UK, the Prince wrote a feature article for the Nursing Times Magazine, where he said he believed nurses' care and kindness was "vital" and stressed the importance of a holistic approach to those who are sick.
He wrote: "In general, quite apart from the medical expertise that nursing staff provide on a daily and nightly basis, the reassurance and simple human kindness that they can also dispense is, I believe, vital and must surely impact positively on the recovery of individuals.”