NNUH Nurses and Midwifes Celebrate International Nurses Day

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH) will be celebrating International Nurses and Midwives Day this year at both hospitals to recognise the amazing caring work nurses do and the pride they take in their profession.

NNUH will be marking International Nurses Day and International Midwives Day at the Norfolk and Norwich on Thursday 8th May, with a range of activities and events to celebrate the remarkable difference that nurses make, and the important day will be marked at Cromer Hospital on Monday 12th May.

As part of the celebrations Ashley Brooks, a National Patient Champion, will give a talk on patient experience and his admiration for the nursing profession and this will be followed by a talk entitled ‘Why be a nurse?’ where students from the Pre Nursing Experience Pilot, newly qualified nurses, and the NNUH Director of Nursing Emma McKay will give their own inspirational views on why they became nurses.

There will also be displays about Research Opportunities for nurses, Apprenticeships, Health and Wellbeing, Continuous Professional Development and the Edith Cavell Foundation and a display of wartime nursing memorabilia.

Emma McKay, Director of Nursing at the NNUH said: “We are delighted to pause and reflect on what makes us proud to be nurses and midwives, and on our role in helping and supporting patients and their families and carers.

“Celebrating International Nurses Day and International Midwives Day also allows us to showcase nursing as a varied and exciting career that makes a real difference to patients, and has a huge range of great career opportunities.”

Cromer Hospital will be unveiling a letter written by Florence Nightingale in 1857 which has been in the hospital for decades though not formally displayed in public.

Helen Lloyd, Operational Manager from Cromer Hospital said: “Sandra Meaden, a former nurse and key driving force in the redevelopment of Cromer Hospital will officially unveil the letter and we are delighted to be able to display a bit of Cromer Hospital history.”

Emma Jarvis Hospital Arts Project co-ordinator said: “This letter has been on display for many years however not in public.  How it was discovered remains a mystery.  We have no records of how Florence Nightingale became linked to Cromer Hospital – if anyone knows anything about the background of this letter it would be really great to hear from you.”

International Nurses Day is a global celebration of nursing and nurses, is formally marked on 12 May every year, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. International Midwives Day is formally marked on 5th May.