Showing gratitude on International Nurses’ Day

The days leading up to International Nurses' Day were full of nurses gathering together to share best practice, and content being shared over social media to highlight the importance of the profession.

Starting things off, the DBS Nurse Association held their conference on 10 May. Although it wasn't an International Nurses' Day event, it provided the nurses with a space to celebrate their good work and achievements.

Meanwhile, we kicked off celebrations early on X (Twitter) with a testimony from Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Pharmacist, Sophie Detraux, highlighting the importance of collaborative working between the pharmacy and Parkinson's nurses to achieve common goals in their time critical medication project. 

We also asked you to let us know what Parkinson’s nurses mean to you, within your own role. Excellence Network’s Clinical Lead for therapy, Fiona Lindop MBE shared her thoughts in response in a post of her own, as did Julie Jones, Associate Professor at Robert Gordon University and joint lead of the Scotland North Parkinson's Excellence Network. 

Read what Sophie, Fiona and Julie had to say on X, and share your own experiences of working with Parkinson's nurses in the replies.

We also wanted to get a glimpse into what being a Parkinson’s nurse is really like. Every nurses’ experience is different, depending on where they are in the country, support available, and how long they’ve been in the role . 

With this in mind, we set out to hear the perspective of recently appointed Parkinson’s nurses, as well as a more experienced nurse consultant. 

The newcomers

We chatted to 3 new enthusiastic Parkinson’s nurses at the Excellence Network nurse induction last month. Jo Dorling from Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, Jane Williams from Powys Teaching Health Board and Elisabete Marques from Charing Cross Hospital, all shared the most rewarding parts of their jobs.

Hear from the nurses in this short video on X.

Helen Asquith, from University Hospital Dorset, was also present at the nurse induction. She told us why she chose to become a Parkinson’s nurse and how her personal experiences have influenced her decision. 

Read Helen's story on X.

The veterans

Parkinson's nurses have now been serving the Parkinson's community in the UK for 35 years. We asked Nurse Consultant Amanda Hulejczuk from University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, with over 20 years of experience, what the Parkinson’s nurse role looked like decades ago, compared to now. 

In an interview carried out by Parkinson’s UK Head of Service Improvement and Grants, Katherine French, Amanda shared how she was the only Parkinson’s nurse for the South East Coast when she started, but as time went on, more and more areas started recognising the importance of the specialism and appointed their own nurses in the Sussex area. She added:

“Once you start making the service invaluable, they can see the benefit from it.”

See a sneak peak of Amanda and Katherine's chat on X. 

In the full interview, Amanda explains in more detail about how she helped shape the Parkinson’s service in the Sussex trust. She talks about how constant adjustments have been made throughout the years to compliment the multidisciplinary offer available to Parkinson’s patients, in hospital and in their communities.

Watch the full interview on the Excellence Network YouTube channel.

Parkinson’s UK Scotland celebrated by sharing Sharon Sutherland’s story. Sharon is a Parkinson’s Nurse Specialist at NHS Highland going over and above for her patients. In recognition of Sharon's hard work, she has been shortlisted in the ‘Adult Nursing’ category in the Royal College of Nursing Scotland Nurse of the Year Awards 2024.

Read Sharon’s story on Facebook.

All in all, the community came together to send messages of support honouring all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure patients can live their lives to their full potential. We even received messages all the way from Peru and Canada, sharing the love.

Read the message from Peru on X.

Read the message from Canada on X.

It was a fantastic few days celebrating all there is about nurses; thank you to everyone who joined in! We want to encourage our community to keep sharing the love, no matter how little the gesture, even a small word of appreciation coming from a colleague can mean the world and give someone a boost.