We’re celebrating International Year of the Nurse and Midwife 2020 | Our News

For those of you who I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet, I’m Mel Coombes (Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Operating Officer), and I’ve taken over Simon’s blog this month to bring you some exciting news.

2020 is a special year for those of us in nursing. To mark 200 years since the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, the World Health Organisation has dedicated 2020 as the first ever global Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Nurses and midwives are a huge part of our NHS workforce. They are highly skilled, multi-faceted professionals from a host of backgrounds that represent our diverse communities, and we want to showcase that diversity throughout this year.

2020 is our time to reflect on the skills, commitment and expert clinical care our nurses bring, and the impact they make on the lives of so many.

Those of you who know me will know that I am an avid user of Twitter so I’m delighted to let you know that we have a dedicated Twitter account for this year: @CWPT_Nurses. Here, you can follow our campaign, understand more about colleagues in our Trust and even get involved.

Each month, we’ll be focusing on a different nursing team or role to offer a bird’s eye view into the wider world of nursing at CWPT.

We’ll do this in many ways, including: Inviting colleagues to ‘takeover’ our Twitter account to give us insight into their day; Featuring monthly blogs from various nursing professionals; Creating displays at different sites explaining the importance of this year; Providing opportunities for patients and colleagues to ‘thank a nurse’; Making videos about why nursing is great; Sharing carer and patient stories.

 

We’ll also be holding a procession around Coventry and a celebration ceremony at Coventry Cathedral on Tuesday 12 May (Florence Nightingale’s birthday) with our partners at Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group, Coventry University, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

I’m really excited to see all of the amazing work being recognised and celebrated, and hope that you’ll all join us to showcase why our nurses really are unique and diverse.

If you haven’t been in touch to let us know you’d like to be involved, please email communications@covwarkpt.nhs.uk.

It is an honour to be Chief Nursing Officer at CWPT in this extra-special year and I will do my upmost to ‘shout’ about how amazing we are to anyone who’ll listen.

Here’s to 2020…the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife! Let’s make it a great one.

Regards,

Mel