Hello. My name is Jane Cummings. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to
mark International Nurses Day and International Day of the Midwife.
Nurses and midwives do an exceptional job
all year round and are vital in not only helping the health and care system meet the increasing
and changing needs of our patients today but also in developing and delivering an NHS and
care system that will be fit for the future. This year marks historical significant
moment for nursing. Many of you will know that this is the centenary of the execution of
Edith Cavell. Edith Cavell was a British nurse who worked during the First World War. She saved soldiers from
each side of the conflict and she is famously quoted as saying: "I can’t stop while there are lives
to be saved.” Edith Cavell is celebrated for saving the
lives of soldiers on both sides without discrimination and she helped some 200 allied
soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium. For this she was arrested, she was
court-martialed, she was found guilty of treason and she was subsequently sentenced to death.
We have plans in this country to celebrate that and to mark her centenary with a £5 coin bearing her image.
Another very well-known nursing figure who I would like to take a few moments to discuss is Mary Seacole.
We have got ongoing plans to erect a statue of Mary Seacole in the grounds of St Thomas’s
Hospital in London. This has been in the process for some time and funds have been raised over many months to be able to achieve that ambition.
Mary's courage and compassion as a nurse provided soldiers with food, care and a dispensary during the 19th century Crimean war.
This will be the first statue to a named
black woman in the UK, and you can find out more by looking on Twitter and following the @seacolestatue hashtag.
But of course ultimately, we mark International Nurses Day on May 12th because it is the birthday of Florence
Nightingale. Her pioneering work on quality care, sanitation, training and research is
not only the historical background to the modern nursing profession but continues to
be at its core. I think it's probably sensible and important to say that the work of Florence Nightingale,
Edith Cavell and Mary Seacole were early pioneers of the 6Cs. Many of you will know what they are, but in case you don't I will repeat them:
They are care, compassion, communication, competence, courage and commitment.
The 6Cs have been have been adopted throughout the country and in now in some cases overseas, which is just fabulous to see.
Since last year’s International Nurses Day, we have seen quite a few changes. This includes the NHS Five Year Forward View,
Health Education England’s Shape of Caring Review and the revised NMC Code. I would like to say a few words about each of these.
For nurses and midwives, the Five Year Forward View will see our skills and expertise increasingly
recognised and used to support patients in a range of settings.
It will be important for us as a professional group to work on the new models of care
and to continue to provide compassionate, safe and consistent care, wherever that care is given.
The Five Year Forward View also focuses on the importance of preventing ill health and promoting health and wellbeing.
This is the first time for many years that we've spent such a big focus on how to look after ill health and how to prevent that ill health happening in the first place.
It recognises the vital importance of working with patients and our communities and in our role in delivering those new models of care. We will
increasingly work in partnership with patients, communities and across teams and organisations
in the health and care system to deliver the improvements, behaviour change, innovation and efficiencies in care locally.
Our work will support the health and wellbeing of the public both in prevention and health improvement,
We need to improve efficiency and we should help and enable people to manage long terms conditions, and to enable them to stay in their
own homes. For many patients I speak to for family and friends, that's what they want, they want to be cared for as close to home as possible, and ultimately in their own homes.
But the Five Year Forward View also highlights the challenges we face, which makes the Shape of Caring Review timely. It is absolutely vital that we invest
in consistently high quality education and training for nurses and midwives, and care assistants, equipping
them to deliver compassionate, competent and person-centred care in a changing environment.
The recently relaunched NMC Code is built around the four fundamentals of care which
patients have told us they expect. These are: To prioritise people
To practice effectively To preserve safety
And to promote professionalism and trust. On my visits around the country to a variety
of care settings, and universities, and the contact I have through both Twitter and all the other examples of spending time with nurses, midwives and care staff.
I am constantly presented with examples of how you all work together and show those principles, live those principles of the 4Ps together with the 6Cs.
This contact also means I see at first hand the pressures and challenges nurses, midwives
and care staff face on a daily basis, together with their wider clinical teams.
I am always overwhelmed by your determination to do the very best for patients despite this.
And to look at how you can work innovatively and together to actually deal with some of those challenges.
Occasions such as International Nurses Day and International Day of the Midwife are an
opportunity to reflect, to celebrate and to encourage. The past year has brought a number of developments
which will set the tone for the future. Reflecting on these developments gives us the opportunity
to celebrate all we have achieved, all you have achieved, and encourage each other to build on this for the benefit
of our teams, our patients and our communities whom we are privileged to serve.
Thank you for everything you do, and I look forward to continuing to work with you in the future. Thank you very much.