We’re celebrating the amazing work of our nurses on International Nurses Day (Monday 12 May).

The annual event is held to mark the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

We're celebrating with a day of events and activities. Pupils from Valence Primary School in Dagenham paid a visit to Queen's Hospital to give gifts to our nurses.

Some of our nurses featured in a short film by the Royal College of Nursing to highlight the dedication of staff across the country. You can watch the film here.
 
We have 2,611 nurses from more than 60 different countries and they work in a variety of roles across our Trust.
 
We spoke to some of our nurses to find out what International Nurses Day means to them.

 
Georgia Bell, from Billericay in Essex, is a nurse who works on the Medical Receiving Unit and Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) departments at King George Hospital.
 
She joined BHRUT in August as a staff nurse, where she gives medication to patients, making observations and taking bloods.
 
After completing a degree in adult nursing from Oxford Brookes University, Georgia went to Sri Lanka and volunteered as nurse for a month abroad in October 2023.
 
There she volunteered at hospitals devastated by the 2004 tsunami, including Mahamodara Teaching Hospital on the country’s southwest coast. It was there where she learned how to apply what she had learned in a clinical setting for the first time.
 
She helped with medication rounds and observed patients. She even helped to deliver a newborn baby.
 
When she returned to the UK, she was equipped with the clinical skills she needed to start as a staff nurse here at BHRUT.
 
Georgia said:

The Medical Receiving Unit is a short stay assessment unit and every day is different. I enjoy meeting new people from all different walks of life.
 
It makes me proud to be a nurse. We all show up we support the public even though things are hard. It’s nice that we can support each other and look after the patients.

Nikki Akar, from Dagenham, works as an oncology nurse consultant in the Sunflower Suite at Queen’s Hospital.

She helps patients undergoing chemotherapy to manage their side effects of their treatment.
 
Nikki said:

Once patients get a cancer diagnosis we’re here to help guide them through the treatment. With the advances in technology we’ve seen over the past few years, we can help patients live as well as possible on palliative treatment.
 
There's lots of support available for nurses with training and courses and I think it's a blank canvas for the future of nursing.

 

Simon Webber, from Rayleigh in Essex, is the Head of Nursing at our Trust.

He supports matrons and ward managers to maintain strict quality and safety standards.
 
He says that the quality of care that we provide to patients has got better.
 
Simon said:

One of the biggest changes we will see in the future of nursing is our upcoming Electronic Patient Record. Instead of picking up notes and using pen and paper, you will have a tablet device and things will go digital.
 
It will be a very new world as it will completely change our daily duties. But we are all here to support each other through it.

Sue Mason is celebrating 30 years of service at BHRUT in July.

She is the lead nurse for capsule endoscopy, where patients swallow a small device to investigate bowel conditions.
 
Sue said:

I was here when this was a new area for our Trust.

The technology side of things is amazing, you can see the images and diagnose so you are able to give high quality care to patients.

It's a simple and non-invasive procedure. Once swallowed the device takes thousands of pictures and I report any findings.