Nightingale nurses and midwives honoured with professional award

Nurses and midwives from Guy’s and St Thomas’ have been recognised for their outstanding practice with a unique professional award.

The Nightingale Nurse and Nightingale Midwife Award was presented to 41 nurses and two midwives who now have the honour of being known as a ‘Nightingale Nurse’ or ‘Nightingale Midwife’.

The ceremony took place virtually on International Nurses’ Day, with messages of support and inspiration from Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England, Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger DBE, and Gillian Prager, President of The Nightingale Fellowship.

Individuals will be presented with their personally engraved badge and certificate later this year.

Named in honour of pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale, who established her first nursing school at St Thomas’ Hospital in 1860, the award is unique to Guy’s and St Thomas’.

Since launching in 2017, more than 250 individuals have successfully achieved the award.

To receive it, nurses and midwives have to provide evidence from their managers, peers and patients of their outstanding practice and how they daily demonstrate the Trust’s values. They also have to complete a programme of academic work accredited by King’s College London.

Avey Bhatia, Chief Nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’, said: “It was wonderful to see so many of our nurses and midwives recognised for their outstanding work. They should all feel immensely proud of their achievements during such a challenging year.

“This prestigious award allows us to celebrate and develop our fantastic staff, and build on Florence Nightingale’s legacy of delivering high quality, compassionate care.”

In the past, nurses who trained at the Nightingale nursing school and worked at St Thomas’ Hospital for more than a year received a special blue badge and were known as ‘Nightingales’. This was phased out after the school was transferred to King’s College London with the last badge being issued in 1996.

The Nightingale Nurse and Midwife Award is part of the Nightingale Academy at Guy’s and St Thomas’, which launched in 2017 to provide a platform for innovation in practice and service development, education and research in nursing and midwifery.