For Florence

International Nurses Day is always celebrated on May 12 – the birth date of Florence Nightingale.

The RCN in Wales participate in celebrating the life time work of Florence Nightingale by attending an annual dedication service in Westminster Abbey.

This year the RCN in Wales will also take this special opportunity to celebrate the life of Hettie C Hopkins, OBE, RCN Welsh Board Secretary between 1963 and 1978 by holding a memorial service for Hettie who recently passed away after a short illness.  Hettie was an extraordinary nursing leader and campaigner who received an OBE for her services to nursing and personified leadership in action. Hettie led the fundraising campaign to build the RCN Welsh Board Headquarters, Ty Maeth in Cardiff and created surplus funds which were invested for the continuing maintenance of Ty Maeth.

Nurses day is an internationally recognised day which gives us the chance to take a short break and acknowledge nurses and nursing, people like Florence and Hettie but also every nurse who works tirelessly to provide quality patient care every day.

It allows us to celebrate all that is good about our profession and just what exceptional things nurses do each day. Today more than ever nurses play a pivotal role in healthcare, making critical decisions that affect and improve patient care. Nurses are central to ensuring a satisfactory and safe patient’s experience.

We don’t hear often enough how nurses make such a great impact on the patients they treat every day. We don’t hear enough about the nurses who work above and beyond their contracted hours, the nurses who support patient’s families, who continue working in the nursing profession through difficult times, who provide outstanding care day in day out. Let’s celebrate our nurses and tell people if we have experienced great care. We can do this on the RCN’s Nurses Day website. http://nursesday.rcn.org.uk/   which is somewhere to share the value of nursing, whatever your position in health care.

Peter Meredith-Smith is Associate Director (Employment Relations) t RCN Wales