Each year on May 12th we celebrate International Nurses Day. This year is perhaps even more significant than usual as it not only marks 200 years since the birth of Florence Nightingale but it is also 2020, the year we will never forget due to the COVID19 pandemic.

As we mark two centuries since the birth of Florence Nightingale and look back on her experiences and achievements it is difficult not to notice the similarities to what we are going through now during COVID-19.

As the CEO of Hallam Medical, I look at my team here at Hallam HQ (now all working from home) and our wider team of amazing Nurses and Clinicians and although everyone has experienced their own challenges in different ways, as a supplier of temporary staffing to the front line we have endeavored and fought hard to overcome all of the unprecedented difficulties we have encountered to ensure we continue to deliver our excellent standards.

As the leader of this company I spend every minute of every day looking for ways I can keep everyone motivated and focused and try to ensure we all have everything we need to continue to deliver the best service to our candidates, clients and patients.

As we navigate our way through COVID-19 the challenges that Florence Nightingale faced feel more comprehensible and real. Much like many of our Clinicians, Florence fought to get the best resources for  her team and her patients, often struggling with little or no equipment. The same can be said for our frontline workers today. It is impossible to listen to or read the news without hearing stories about the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Yet, we also read inspiring stories of our Nurses demonstrating resilience and skill. They have found ways to get on with their job and, despite these difficult and challenging times have continued to deliver excellent clinical care and put their patients first, often before their own safety.

Florence Nightingale’s belief in the importance of good personal hygiene, fresh air, light exercise and nourishing food has never been so important to us as healthcare workers and also as a nation. We have never taken her ideals for a healthy life more seriously and have never appreciated the importance of our one hour’s exercise and our time outside in the fresh air. We have also never washed our hands so much.

The legacy of Florence Nightingale is still with us today and we thank her for everything she has done to help Nurses and the healthcare system. To this day she is still an inspiration to people around the world.

Celebrating and marking 200 years since Florence Nightingale was born gives us the perfect opportunity to not only celebrate everything we have achieved in healthcare across two centuries, along with the advances that we have made , but to also take a moment to recognise all those who have selflessly lost their lives on the frontline this year working to keep everyone safe.

As we say Happy Birthday to Florence Nightingale and celebrate our wonderful healthcare workers, I want to reassure you all that I take the responsibility of keeping you all safe incredibly seriously.

At Hallam Medical we are here for you always and forever but more than anything we are so grateful for everything you do for us every day!

Happy birthday Florence Nightingale and thank you to our amazing frontline workers!

“Let us never consider ourselves finished nurses… we must be learning all of our lives.” – Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing.

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