On International Nurses Day, Friday 12 May, Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust will celebrate the innovative, compassionate and award winning care that the Trust’s nurses provide for local people across the district.  In recognition of this, the Trust is hosting a nurse celebration event at the Mercure Bradford Bankfield Hotel.

Making a positive difference to people’s lives, the day will celebrate the work of the Trust’s nurses in embodying the ‘six Cs’ of high-quality nursing care: compassion, competence, communication, courage and commitment.

Amongst those recognised on the day will be the Trust’s Neil Buckingham, Senior Advanced Nurse Practitioner, who will speak about his latest achievement of working as a special police officer.  Neil said: “I’ve had the opportunity to go out on patrol with regular officers to improve the care of vulnerable people in a mental health crisis.” The project was the first of its kind in the country, and gave Neil and his colleagues the same powers as regular police officers to work on a variety of police duties following police training that was supported by the Trust.  This is just one of the varied and interesting work opportunities that have been open to Neil since he joined the Trust, originally as a staff nurse, in 2000. Neil also worked in community mental health, where he learnt British sign language and worked closely with the deaf population of Bradford and social services, ensuring access to mental health services was equal to all; he has also led the way with the development of the Trust’s no-smoking policy in supporting patients and staff to give up smoking and helping them to succeed.

International Nurses Day has been held annually on 12 May for over 40 years, a date selected to coincide with the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, a symbol of pioneering nursing.

The day will also celebrate the achievements of community nursing staff across the Trust, including dedicated and focused Tara Teske who will soon be able to realise her ambition of becoming a district nurse, having originally started her career at the Care Trust as a community staff nurse.  Of the training Tara successfully completed, she said: “If I hadn’t finished the Trust’s Senior Staff Development Programme I wouldn’t have gained the knowledge, skills and experience needed to be accepted onto the university course and become a district nurse. I have been provided with opportunities to develop myself not only personally but professionally too.”

Chris Weston, Head Occupational Therapist for the Care Trust’s specialist inpatient services will give an address on the day, on LYNFEST, the Trust’s festival of music and arts for people experiencing mental health problems, and how the event made a difference to the health and wellbeing of the patients cared for at Lynfield Mount Hospital.  Speaking before the event Chris said: “The festival brought together staff and patients from a range of mental health services.  Patients were involved in many roles from having the initial idea and  planning and delivering the festival, to performing music, poetry and displaying their artwork. People involved found it motivating and engaging.” LYNFEST recently won an award at the National Service User Awards in the Breaking Down Barriers/Tackling Stigma category for their work in this area.

The winners of the Kate Granger Compassion in Practice Award will also be revealed by Chris Pointon, Kate’s widow.  The late Dr Kate Granger had previously visited the Trust and was passionate about compassionate care in the NHS.  Kate was sadly diagnosed with terminal cancer, which led her to start the “Hello My Name Is…” campaign, after the staff that looked after her in hospital didn’t introduce themselves, which is an easy way to create trust and a human connection. Her campaign, aimed at doctors and nurses, has now been rolled out in hundreds of NHS intuitions across the UK and in other countries.

Find out more about our inspiring nurses and how you can become part of the team, visit: www.bdct.nhs.uk/working-for-us/working-for-us/