So much has been happening at Nursing Times in recent days that I was struggling to pin down what I wanted to focus on writing about this week. Thus, I’ve opted to try and tell you about it all.
On Tuesday, we held our annual Nursing Times Workforce Summit & Awards, now in its sixth year. A great day of networking and discussion was followed by celebrations at our awards ceremony.
The Nursing Times Workforce Summit, which took place during the day, was all about helping delegates to build networks, share challenges and hopefully some solutions to those challenges.
“We received an amazing 161 entries for the Nursing Times Workforce Awards this year, competing across our 17 categories”
We heard fresh updates about the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, work to improve perceptions of nursing as a potential career and vital resources to ensure safe staffing.
And it’s not just about listening to speakers at a conference. The summit features a range of interactive workshops, where expert moderators work with delegates to exchange ideas.
Meanwhile, the Nursing Times Workforce Awards celebrated the nurses, midwives and employers making a real difference in key areas such as staff recruitment, retention, wellbeing and inclusion.
The event seeks to promote the brilliant work that is being carried out by nursing and midwifery staff, despite what continues to be incredibly tough time for all working in health and social care.
We received an amazing 161 entries for the Nursing Times Workforce Awards this year, competing across our 17 categories. Congratulations to all of our winners and well done also to everyone that made the shortlist, especially during yet another very challenging year.
To highlight but a few, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust was named Best UK Employer of the Year for Nursing Staff and Isle of Wight NHS Trust won Workforce Team of the Year.
The Nurse Manager of the Year award went to Amy Dewhurst, from North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, and the Practice Educator of the Year trophy went to Christine Picton at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.
Paul John Alegado, from University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, was named Overseas Nurse of the Year, and Akeem Fernandez, from East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, won the award for Preceptor of the Year.
Meanwhile, this time last week, the Nursing Times news team was reporting from the chief nursing officer (CNO) for England’s summit as its exclusive media partner.
Over two days, nurse leaders from around England discussed important topics including public health, social care, women’s health, and equity, diversity and inclusion.
CNO for England Dame Ruth May also set out the key priorities and enablers from her forthcoming national nursing strategy, focusing on ‘7Ps’.
You can exclusively read all the headlines from the 2023 CNO Summit in the news section on the Nursing Times website.
In addition, last Wednesday, we held our virtual companion to the Workforce Summit, with some great sessions on improving preceptorship, adopting technology and tackling bullying.
You can also watch any or all of the sessions from the online event by visiting the Nursing Times website and looking at the Watch NT Events page.
A special thank you to Professor Mark Radford, deputy chief nursing officer for England, for speaking at both our online and physical workforce summit events.
And last but not least, we revealed our latest group of Nursing Times student editors this week. Over the coming months, they will be writing regular blogs on their experiences in nurse education.
Visit the student page to find out more about Lucy Allen, Devansh Baburaj, Carly Davis, Richard Denton, Chioma Vivian Ezunu, Chioma Eucharia Nnajidema, Jess Pidcock and Ellie Sims.
So, as I said at the beginning, a lot has been happening this month and I hope you managed to see, read or take part in some of it.
Our chief aim is to support nursing and midwifery in every way that we can, whether it’s covering the news that you need to know about, providing a forum to discuss challenges or celebrating your work.