The QNI has launched a short, animated film to celebrate the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, as well as to highlight the value of community nursing.
The animation, narrated by Call the Midwife actor Stephen McGann, comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) extended the Year of the Nurse and Midwife from its original year 2020 into 2021. Many of the events to celebrate the year in 2020 were postponed because of the Covid pandemic.
QNI chief executive Dr Crystal Oldman said the film ‘tried to capture the essence of nursing in the community’ from ‘its roots with Florence Nightingale’ to the ‘indispensable contribution of today’s nurses working in the community’.
The film is the first ever animation created by the QNI, which said it took ‘many months’ to plan and develop. It was entirely funded by UK nurse and healthcare recruitment company, Hallam Medical, which also provided creative and technical expertise.
The film narration said: ‘[Community nurses] work in homes, in clinics, in schools and care for individuals and families without a secure home. We are at the heart of the healthcare team.’
It mentioned district nurses, general practice nurses, community learning disability nurses, community mental health nurses, community children’s nurses, school nurses, health visitors, care home nurses, inclusion health nurses and occupational health nurses.
And it highlighted their work using technology in the community, improving access to healthcare, deliver personalised care and researching the social determinants of health.
It concluded: ‘We speak truth to power. To chance policy, protect and preserve the nation’s health. We question, we innovate, we research, we educate, we advocate, we solve problems.’
The WHO created the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife to celebrate and showcase nurses and midwives across the globe. It originally was only meant to take place in 2020, chosen to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.
In January 2020, the QNI created another film encouraging more people to consider a career in community nursing.
