Community team leader shares delight in becoming a Queen’s Nurse

A community nurse is celebrating after being accepted to The Queen's Nursing Institute.

Karen Davies is a Clinical Team Manager based at Bunny Hill Primary Care Centre in Sunderland and works for South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.

She can now use the title Queen’s Nurse (QN) after being accepted to the programme.

It supports community nurses as they develop their professional skills and “deliver outstanding patient care.”

Karen began working in community nursing in 2006. The next year she completed her independent nurse prescribing skills.

This role was an innovation within the Trust and allowed Karen to assess, treat, diagnose and prescribe for patients with long-term conditions.

This paved the way for the fragility team which now cares for people in their own homes, as well as care homes.

Karen has been in her current role of Clinical Team Manager since 2018 and had previously been based in the Coalfields area of Sunderland, before moving to Bunny Hill in 2022.

She said: "I was absolutely delighted to receive the email informing me I had been successful. I'm very grateful to my managers and peers who submitted lengthy accounts in order to support my application.

"I applied to be a Queen's Nurse as it embodies my career in the community. It is awarded to someone who is committed to high standards of practice and person-centred care.

"It's also an acknowledgement that the nurse has made an exceptional contribution to patient care and the nursing profession in the community.

"Being a Queen's Nurse is being committed to ensuring and promoting diversity, equality, inclusiveness and respecting and valuing everyone, all of the values I hold as a nurse manager within our Trust."

Diane Palmer is Deputy Director of Nursing for the Trust. She said: "It is fabulous news that Karen has been successful in her application to become a Queen's Nurse.

"Nursing is a career which offers so much opportunity to learn and develop, as well as variety, as we care for patients. As a Trust, we're always encouraging our teams to learn and grow.

"We congratulate Karen for her dedication, and we know it will be a proud moment when she receives her badge."

The title of Queen’s Nurse is available to nurses who have shown “a high level of commitment to patient care and nursing practice.”

Nurses, health visitors and midwives with five years’ experience working in the community, primary care or in social care are eligible to apply.

In addition to the formal recognition the title brings, those who are accepted can benefit through networks, access a free developmental programme and bursaries, join in an annual meeting and take up learning and leadership opportunities.

More about the programme can be found through https://qni.org.uk/nursing-in-the-community/queens-nurses/