The North of England's Chief Nurse highlighted the changing, advancing nature of nursing at our first ICare – Celebrating Nursing and Midwifery Conference.
Margaret Kitching was our guest speaker and looked back to the days when, as a student, on the former old-fashioned long Nightingale Wards, her duties were mainly in the sluices and students were seen and not heard.
But things have moved on and the role of nurses has advanced, she said. Margaret, who entered the profession after seeing nurses caring for her dying father, said nurses were now encouraged to speak up to put the patients first and having that courage was very important.
She said: “If you compare our time with patients to the time consultants spend with them then we should have the courage to speak up if we think something is not in our patient’s best interests.”
She was welcomed by our Director of Nursing Julie Dawes, who told colleagues “we are making history” today.
She said changing was important for the future delivery of compassionate care for our patients.
“ We are really, really, busy yet it is important to stand back and learn and look at what has gone well and what’s not gone well and develop our staff. It is important we change because if we don’t we go backwards.”
She said big challenges were on the horizon including Electronic Patient Records, reconfiguration and CQC inspections.
She thanked everyone for attending and “making history” at our first Celebrating Nursing and Midwifery Conference at the YMCA at Salendine Nook.
“There are people here at the start of their careers and towards the end and we have a lot to learn from each other. I am sure today will make us all proud.”
Janet Youd, said: "There was a real buzz all day and it was great to hear nurses talking about their jobs with such passion."
Big thanks to our presenters on the day: Lindsay Rudge, Dorothy O'Driscoll, Dr Annkush Vidyarthi, Linsey Whitelam, Lois Mellor, Carole Hallam, Barbara Schofield, Felicity Astin and Michael Ludlum.
Click here to see a short clip of Margaret Kitching sharing her early career experiences in nursing at the conference.