Help save the Florence Nightingale Museum

The Florence Nightingale Museum is at risk of permanent closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With no admissions during the lockdown the museum lost 98 per cent of its income.

The museum will reopen on Saturday 1 August 2020 and has launched a fundraising appeal to secure its future.

The museum is on the grounds of St Thomas’ Hospital and is dedicated to the life and work of Florence Nightingale and the history of nursing.

This year is the bicentenary of Florence Nightingale’s birth and the World Health Organisation has declared it ‘The International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife’ in her honour.

Fiona Hibberts, head of the Nightingale Academy at Guy’s and St Thomas’, said: “It would be a huge loss for the Florence Nightingale Museum to close, especially during the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.

“The museum is a wonderful celebration of Florence Nightingale’s life, legacy and modern nursing. We are extremely proud to have it on our site at St Thomas’ Hospital, where Florence Nightingale set up her first nursing school.

“We are delighted that the museum will reopen on the 1 August, but its future still remains uncertain so we are urging everyone to support the fundraising appeal to ensure it stays open and continues to raise awareness of Florence Nightingale’s important legacy.”

The Nightingale Fellowship, a body that represents nurses who trained at the Nightingale Nursing School, is calling on nurses to help raise funds for the museum by getting sponsorship for performing nursing related tasks. To take part visit the Nightingale Fellowship website.

To support the Florence Nightingale Museum visit Go Fund Me.