Join us in celebrating our Royal Free London nurses and midwives today.

2020 was designated the first International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. It marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, who founded modern nursing and pioneered infection control.

The occasion takes on an extra special meaning as we recognise the important role that our nursing and midwifery colleagues have played during the response to COVID-19 (coronavirus).

During the pandemic, our nursing teams have seen their roles transform dramatically. Many more patients have come through our hospitals in need of urgent, compassionate care. All of our nurses and midwives have stepped up to the challenge, and some have been redeployed into new roles, quickly learning additional skills so that they can support their colleagues.

Royal Free London nurses help to care for around 1.6 million patients each year, forming an essential part of the multi-disciplinary clinical team. We’re proud to offer a comprehensive training programme, allowing our nursing team do develop new skills and build lifelong careers at the trust.

In addition to this, on average our midwifery teams support 8,500 births every year. Thousands of families entrust our midwives to bring their babies into the world and the feedback we receive tells of how appreciated they are by the local community. During the pandemic, substantial changes have been made to our maternity services to ensure we can continue to provide safe, inclusive and compassionate care to women and their families. From embracing Attend Anywhere video appointments for antenatal care to providing a ‘Stars at Night’ support line to mums, our midwives have continued to deliver world class care to women across north central London.

Group chief nurse Deborah Sanders shared her message of thanks in a video recorded for staff. “The work, the care and the compassion that I have seen from nurses and midwives right across our organisation has moved me beyond words. I’m so very proud, and thank you for all that you have done for our patients and for each other over these last few months.”

To mark International Nurses Day and Year of the Nurse and Midwife, a series of short videos with nurses and midwives from across our hospitals is available to watch below. Go behind the uniform to hear about what they like to do when they’re off shift, what they are most proud of and the nursing values that mean the most to them.