Media Release
15 May 2019 – for immediate release
NHS Chief Nursing Officer for England visits mid Essex
Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England, celebrated International Nurses’ Day yesterday (Monday 13 May) with Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Broomfield Hospital.
A gathering of nurses who work in mental health, acute hospitals, care homes, general practices, commissioning and in the community greeted Ruth at the CCG. A number spoke to the group about their commitment to nursing and the satisfaction their role gave them. It was also revealed that across the three mid and south Essex hospitals alone, there are 4,211 nurses of 67 nationalities.
Ruth May spoke to her nursing colleagues and other staff at the CCG about her three priorities as Chief Nursing Officer (CNO): ensuring the NHS has a nursing, midwifery and care workforce fit for the future; instilling a sense of pride amongst staff; and building leadership within the profession so nurses can speak with a collective voice.
Another speaker at the International Nurses’ Day event, local resident Clive Blanchard, offered a patient’s perspective on the importance of their work. He explained how NHS nurses had not only helped to save his life but let him live it as well as he could after recovery from multiple surgical procedures.
Ruth then paid a visit to Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust, which runs Broomfield Hospital, where she used to be Chief Executive. She said: “I was delighted to return to an area I know so well and I was thrilled to have had the opportunity to present two CNO awards for outstanding contribution to nursing.”
Rachel Hearn, Director of Nursing and Quality for Mid Essex CCG and the Acute Commissioning Team of Mid and South Essex CCGs, said: “It was an absolute pleasure to host Ruth and share with her some of the brilliant work nurses in our area are doing.
“Nurses are the most trusted profession in the country and remain hugely important to the NHS, so we were delighted Ruth could celebrate her first International Nurses’ Day as Chief Nursing Officer of England with us.”
Issued by the Communications and Engagement team, Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group
Telephone: 01245 398750, email: [email protected]
www.midessexccg.nhs.uk Follow us: @MidEssexCCG
ENDS
Notes to editor: Caption for attached photograph (also shown below): Chief Nursing Officer of England Dr Ruth May, left, with Mid Essex CCG Director of Nursing and Quality Rachel Hearn, centre, and the CCG’s nursing ambassador Jackie Barrett, right, who compered the CCG visit
Dr May is the first joint NHS England and NHS Improvement Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) since the two organisations began working more closely together late last year. She took up her role at the start of 2019, after being Executive Director of Nursing at NHS Improvement and Nursing Director at former NHS watchdog Monitor. She has also been Chief Executive of Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust (MEHT), which runs Broomfield Hospital, as well as Director of Nursing and Deputy Chief Executive with Havering Primary Care Trust and Chief Executive of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn. Footage from the Facebook Live stream of Dr May’s visit to the CCG is available at https://www.facebook.com/CCGMidEssex/videos/673441166403599/ International Nurses’ Day is celebrated around the world every 12th May, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth, to mark the vital contribution nurses make to our health and care.
Issued by the Communications and Engagement team, Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group
Telephone: 01245 398750, email: [email protected]
www.midessexccg.nhs.uk Follow us: @MidEssexCCG