Queen’s Nurse for Gloucestershire
28/08/2008
Gloucestershire District Nurse, Helen Ballinger, from Winchcombe, has been awarded the title of Queen’s Nurse by the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI).
Helen is currently on secondment from Overton Park Surgery in Cheltenham where she worked as a District Nursing Sister/Practice Educator. Helen is now a Practice Development Lead Nurse in Case management supporting district nursing teams who look after patients with long term conditions. Helen has been through a rigorous process to be awarded this title.
Helen said: "I feel honoured to be one of a few nurses across the country who have been awarded this title since it was brought back. It means that community nursing is linked with excellence and that as a discipline community nursing is recognised.
"I’m hoping to use this opportunity to link with other Queen’s Nurses and share good practice across the county."
The title of Queen’s Nurse is given to individual nurses who have demonstrated a high level of commitment to patient-centred values and continually improving practice. There are currently forty community nurses nationwide that have the new Queens Nurse title.
Although this is not a formal qualification, by being Queen’s Nurse Helen is able to link up with other Queen's Nurses' in helping to continue to promote community nursing and best practice across the Country
Jan Stubbings, Chief Executive of Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust, said: "I am delighted Helen has been awarded this title. Community nurses are a key part of the primary care delivered to patients in Gloucestershire and this is an endorsement of the excellence they strive to achieve."
Queen’s Nurses are community nurses, such as district nurses, practice nurses, health visitors or others, who want to improve the care of patients and develop their own practice.
Helen joins District Nurse, Anna Gibbins; Nurse Practitioner, Alison Cooper; and Practice Nurse, Heather Mitchell, the latter two are also based at Overton Park Surgery, as community nurses in Gloucestershire that have been awarded the Queen’s Nurse title since it was reintroduced in 2007. Heather has also recently been awarded the Queen’s Nurse for her work with the charity run ‘Kate’s Hospice Care’.
The official presentation to receive the badge and certificate of achievement will be held in London at the Lansdowne Club, Mayfair on 14 October 2008.
