We are never ‘just’ a nurse.

Just.

What a small and innocuous word, but it can have so many different connotations. It can be used to disparage, belittle or to depreciate someone’s worth. Alternatively, it can be used in a positive way – to describe fairness, goodness, impartiality or propriety.

I have heard many people say recently that they are ‘just a nurse’, ‘just a nursing support worker’, ‘just a student’. To my mind, we should never use the word ‘just’ as a negative about ourselves. I want us to choose the positive.  Aristotle tells us that happiness depends on ourselves and so we must be the champions of our profession.  We must be positive.  As we ask our government and leaders to believe in the nursing profession, we must start with belief in ourselves. 

So, close your eyes, breathe and take some time.  Remember why you decided to join the healthcare profession in the first place. Can you remember your first patient? Can you recollect those first reflections during training sessions? Remember the first time you fully recognised the many and varied skills you have?

I think I first felt like a ‘proper’ nurse whilst lying on the floor of my patient’s room extracting a difficult suture after their time on our ward for rehab. With the help of my friend and healthcare assistant, we managed to help our patient into the shower and the relief on their face as the water washed over them was a joy to behold, and probably the first time I had felt useful since I qualified! Tears all round!

Think about the times when you have made a difference, and there will be countless, so many more than you realise. Think about the hands you have held, the medicines you have administered, the wounds you have tended. Remember the tears shed, the jokes shared, the complex care plans agonised over, the scores and scores of admissions, discharges, and every moment in between.  This is the immense privilege of nursing – we are there in someone’s life for ‘just’ a moment, but we make a contribution to their wellbeing that will last a lifetime. 

Please, never underestimate or deprecate us. We are never ‘just’ a nurse, or a Nursing Support Worker, or a student, or a healthcare worker. We are so many things, often many different things to one person. We may be someone’s route to justice in the world, the person that can make an enormous difference in that person’s life.  Let’s be positive. Let’s choose to recognise the amazing teams that we are and celebrate the honour of nursing.

On that note, on the 23rd November we celebrate Nursing Support Workers Day, when we commend our colleagues and the extraordinary work that they do. With their numerous skills and endless compassion, no team would be able to function without our NSWs. So let us give them the recognition that they deserve and celebrate all that they do. Click here to read about the ways in which you can mark this day and then tag us in your social media posts on the day.

There is much to plan and prepare for the year ahead, including ensuring that we all get our submissions for Congress in on time. The 2024 Congress is taking place from 2^nd – 6^th June in Newport in Wales, and we are now accepting suggestions for potential agenda items. If there is an issue which you feel passionately about, or you have a suggestion for a point of policy, then you can submit your idea to your local branch, regional board, committee or forum. Find out all you need to know about how to make your submission here.

At the time of writing, we are still in the middle of our branch AGMs, with the Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Lancashire East branches’ meetings all coming up later this month. I cannot stress enough how important it is that you get involved in your local branch if you possibly can. This is your route into making your voice heard within the College, to help shape the activities and learning workshops that your branch undertakes and it also, perhaps most importantly, provides you with a network of fellow local members for whom you can rely upon for support, advice and, if necessary, someone to listen to you vent your frustrations!

For an AGM to be quorate (ie. to meet the threshold of the minimum number of members that need to attend for the outcomes of the meeting to be considered valid), we need a minimum of ten members to attend. We have around 50,000 members in our region. Please don’t assume that someone will else will attend, make the time to come along if you can. All the dates and details are on our events page.