Nurses at GMMH unite to celebrate International Nurses Day
Nurses throughout Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) are today (May 12) joining their colleagues across the world in celebrating the critical role they play in providing compassionate and expert care.
They are uniting to mark International Nurses Day, recognising the unwavering commitment, resilience and challenges of those who operate on the frontline in nursing.
12 May coincides with the birthday of Florence Nightingale – one of the most famous nurses in history – and invites reflection on the diverse settings and tasks nurses undertake on a daily basis . This year, the theme of the day is wellbeing.
GMMH has more than 1,900 nurses with a wide range of roles and responsibilities, including those who work in the community, sisters, matrons, associates, therapists, consultants and practitioners to name just a few.
Mental health nursing is a specialised area of the profession, dealing with service users who are suffering from a wide variety of mental illnesses including, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or psychosis, allowing them to overcome, recover, and improve their lives.
Salli Midgley, GMMH Chief Nurse, said:
“International Nurses Day is an opportunity to thank nurses for their unwavering commitment to service users and the difference they make to people’s lives every day. Let’s celebrate the incredible work of our nurses together, acknowledging their dedication and the positive impact they make in our communities, across the NHS, and in social care.
“Nursing is a highly skilled, evidence-based profession. Our nurses lead innovation, drive improvements, and champion better care for patients, families, and communities. Nurses are at the heart of the NHS, social care and the independent and charitable sectors.”
“Nurses are our biggest clinical workforce, working in partnership with a range of clinical professionals to deliver high quality care here in GMMH. I am proud to be part of our rich and diverse clinical workforce who are driving our improvement journey; as a mental health nurse and an adult nurse I have had the privilege of working with many service users and carers as part of multi professional teams. I wouldn’t change anything about my career in nursing.”
Nurses at GMMH have also been reflecting on their own roles, careers and hopes.
Hayley McGowan, Associate Director of Nursing and Quality for the Specialist Services Care Group, covers care groups across prisons and secure children's homes, children and young people services and our addictions, homeless and deaf mental health services.
She said: “I've been a mental health nurse now for 24 years and I never fail to be amazed by the care, compassion and innovation that our nurses in our services show. Being a mental health nurse is a wonderful job, but it's also very challenging and can be very demanding on us physically and emotionally.
“So, on International Nurses Day today, the 12th of May, I really encourage everybody to take some time out to reflect on all the wonderful things that you do being a nurse, what you enjoy about working in nursing, and really focus on your wellbeing.
“We want you to feel happy and supported in your job and stay well so that you can continue to deliver the wonderful care that you do to the people that access our services.”
Jennifer Jideobi, an infection prevention control nurse said:
“I enjoy being an infection control nurse because I'm able to mitigate the risk of infection in clinical settings. I'm able to improve the quality of care provided to patients because that's one of the major reasons why I decided to be a nurse because I genuinely like to care for patients, ensuring that optimal care is provided for them and looking after them, making a positive impact, especially in their most vulnerable moments.
“So, all the nurses all over the world, both home and abroad, this is me wishing you happy International Nurses Day. I know that changing practice from one country to the other can be challenging but just keep your head high and keep pushing - definitely your value is going to be recognised. Happy International Nurses Day everyone!”
Adam Young, Associate Director for Operations within the Adult Forensic Care group, said:
“I want to take this opportunity today as a registered mental health nurse to just thank everybody. Take the opportunity to look after yourselves and your own wellbeing. I also want to acknowledge the international nurses we have within my service and across our organisation.
“We've taken the opportunity over the last few years to welcome a whole range of international nurses that have only strengthened and improved the diversity we have within our workforce.”
Becky Pack , Head of Nursing in quality for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), qualified as a mental health nurse in 2009, having previously been a support worker in forensic mental health.
She said : “Once I qualified, I went into child and adolescent mental health services and my plan was just to do six months there. But nearly 16 years later I'm still there. What excites me about being in CAMHS, specifically a mental health nursing in CAMHS, it's about knowing what we do now, we'll make a difference for people for 30-40 years to come and their families as well.”
Paula Solomon, Deputy Chief Nurse , thanked nurses and nursing assistants across GMMH for their hard work, dedication and the positive impact that have on the service users and on each other.
She said: “I am so lucky and I've been so blessed to work in a variety of different roles across the organisation and I can honestly say I've been invested in as part of this organisation as well and I think that's something we want to continue. Mental health nursing is a really valuable and rewarding job. We make such a difference to those who are very, very vulnerable, to see an individual come through our services, receive the care and treatment in such a compassionate and kind way so that they can go and live their lives to the best optimum that they can.
“I would never have chosen a different career to this and I just hope all of you out there feel exactly the same as I do 24 years on, I still see and do things that reward me going home every day, but also provide that care and treatment to those service users that we look after.
“I really want you today to take some time out, think about your health and wellbeing because that is the focus of International Nurses Day and really look after each other and yourselves.
“It's really important that you are compassionate to yourselves because that way it helps us to be compassionate to others. And I know all of you, nurses as well as myself, come to work to do the best job that we can every day and we do every day make a difference. So, thank you from me to you.”
