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Coventry University celebrates International Nurses Day
Tuesday 12 May 2020
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Coventry University has hailed its student nurses who are serving with the NHS on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19 as it joined the world in celebrating International Nurses Day.
Two hundred and two student nurses from the university’s campuses in Coventry and Scarborough, and 174 nursing associate apprentices from across Coventry, Scarborough and London are deployed in a variety of frontline nursing roles in NHS hospitals. Another 43 midwifery students are also working at the front line, providing care to women and babies.
The COVID-19 outbreak has severely stretched the capacity of the healthcare systems of most countries around the world. It has highlighted the importance of highly educated and skilled healthcare workers, with the critical thinking skills needed to enable rapid action, adaptation and assimilation of new knowledge and information.
I am very proud of the incredible strength of our students and all members of the health and social care family for their skill, dedication, bravery and compassion. It takes strength of character to care for others and to manage the challenges of COVID-19, which has pushed many to their limits in different ways. COVID-19 has brought vast changes in the ways in which healthcare is being delivered, which is leading to changes taking place within the healthcare education sector. We stand ready to play our part in delivering a strong system of education, development and training to sustain and further strengthen the nursing profession both nationally and globally.
Dr Rosie Kneafsey, Head of Coventry University’s School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health
Before I finished my placement I got to see the hard work and conviction that went into preparing for the peak. Working alongside the amazing nurses in the NHS has been an eye-opening experience and it allowed me to gain confidence in myself. It has made me even more determined to progress in my degree and aspire to be as compassionate and professional as the nurses with whom I worked have shown me to be.
Lucy Geoghegan, first-year student nurse
Coventry University is delivering nursing apprenticeships together with its practice partners, and also offers the traditional undergraduate as well as postgraduate programmes.
From September this year, nursing, midwifery and other allied health students starting, and continuing degree-level courses will receive a government grant of £5,000 in additional support to help with living costs.
International Nurses Day is celebrated every year on 12 May, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth, and this year it is being commemorated under the theme “Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Nursing the World to Health”.
