A caring and compassionate community nurse whose skills have shaped her work as a clinical commissioning manager has been awarded the prestigious title of Queen’s Nurse.
Sian Cole, a Health and Social Care Clinical Commissioning Manager at NHS Gloucestershire received the title Queen’s Nurse (QN) from community nursing charity The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI).
A Queen’s Nurse is committed to high standards of practice, supporting innovation, learning and leadership to improve care for patients.
Being a Queen’s nurse means belonging to a family of like-minded nurses who work in the community, sharing common values as well as a title. Nurses must demonstrate five or more years’ experience of working in the community.
Sian has spent many years using her community nursing skills to care for people in their own homes. Her experience also includes leading teams of professionals from a number of different disciplines as well as her role as Director of Care Services for Longfield Community Hospice before joining NHS Gloucestershire.
She said: “The key principle that has permeated throughout my professional life is that people, service users are at the heart of all that we do.”
Recently, Sian attended the Queens Nursing Institute award ceremony in London where she received her award. She joins a number of Queens Nurses working at NHS Gloucestershire.
She said: “I am delighted to receive the title of Queens Nurse, joining an organisation dedicated to supporting community nurses with a commitment to improving care for patients, their families and carers.
The years I spent as a community nurse have taught me many valuable lessons, I have been able to use this knowledge and experience in my role as a clinical commissioner.
As a community nurse you are a guest in someone’s home and you learn first hand about the support network that surrounds them and what is important to them.
Working with someone, building on their strengths and helping them maintain their independence has long been a part of everyday practice for community nurses.
A community nurse requires the skills of negotiation, relationship building, compassion, teamwork, communication and the ability to find innovative ways to tackle a host of challenges, skills that have been put to good use in my current role.”
The QNI is the oldest professional nursing organisation in the UK. The charity was originally founded to organise the training of district nurses and was key in developing a highly-skilled service to meet the healthcare needs of millions of people every year as one of the main pillars of the National Health Service.
The title ‘Queen’s Nurse’ was given to the first nurse who was trained at the Queen’s Nursing Institute. The institute no longer provides training for nurses although it continues to provide both professional support and opportunities for development. In Gloucestershire, the title Queen’s Nurse is currently held by 48 community nurses.
