IND 2025 Message From Angela

‘Our Nurses. Our Future. Caring for nurses strengthens economies’

Being a Nurse is an important identity for me; I have done a lot of training, but I still believe that the best training was my initial experience as a Student Nurse – anyone else had to learn how to make an odd shaped hat out of what looked like a starched white tea towel? Learning how to make that hat was the first lesson on our first day – we were all so proud to leave the building and get on the bus carrying our hat as if it was a precious ornament and would fall apart if we even looked at it.

I left home at 18, taking what felt like a bold step to move into the Nurses Home at the Royal Victoria Infirmary (all of 10 miles away from home, but felt like a different part of the country back then). There are many tales to tell from the 3 ½ years I spent there. It was right next door to the Doctors’ Residence, and it overlooked Leazes Park which was great for a walk – but those swans were noisy when I was on night shift trying to sleep!! The other noisy thing was St James Park, the home of Newcastle United football team. It is surprising how far noise travels. I lived on the 4^th floor and there was a flat roof accessed through a fire exit, which was great for sunbathing – reference to night shift again, as we used to get out there and set our alarm clocks to go off each hour so we could turn over and get an even tan!

I trained at Newcastle School of Nursing – no university education for nurses in 1985! My course was split into blocks of two weeks in the school (Freeman Hospital’s basement) and then 10 weeks of placements, which was where you really learnt how to look after patients. The Auxiliary Nurses, as they were called then, were fantastic teachers. Just like present day Healthcare Support Workers, they were very focused on giving individualised care. If Mr Smith wanted a shave, he got one, if Mrs Jones wanted her hair set in curlers, she got that too. They may seem little things, but they were massive boosts for the patients and made them smile. I soon became adept with the razor and the metal tipped hair comb, all thanks to the support staff – and it was me getting the smile from patients, which was a boost for me too.

It is hard to believe that I am in my 40^th year as a Nurse – and things are no different now. It is often the little things we do for our patients that make a big difference to how they are feeling, makes them feel better, and ultimately makes them smile. I love to read the patient experience forms when they come through and I like to go and talk to some patients if I am out visiting our services and teams. While the role of the Nurse may have evolved with scope of practice, and levels of education having changed, there are still a lot of opportunities to learn, develop, lead, manage and most of all, to be compassionate.

The theme for this year’s International Day of the Nurse is linked to the wellbeing of nurses, to ensure that we can continue to provide the high-quality care that is critical to the health of our communities. I hope that everyone can take a little time to reflect on what it means to care for each other, as well as for our patients. St Spectrum, we are trying as an organisation to change the culture of supervision, using restorative supervision to focus on wellbeing as well as professional development. The Professional Nurse Advocate role was introduced to support this approach nationally.

Thank you to all our teams – but as we celebrate International Nurses Day, a special thank you goes to the nursing community within Spectrum.