Chief Nursing Officer for England visits Northumbria to meet nursing students

The Chief Nursing Officer for England has visited Northumbria University to meet with nursing students and lecturers and discuss the opportunities for nursing in the future.

Jane Cummings visited Northumbria's Clinical Skills Centre at its Coach Lane Campus, where courses in Healthcare and Public Health and Wellbeing subjects are taught.

Ms Cummings delivered a lecture to a packed theatre of students in which she discussed the opportunities arising for those in the nursing profession following the NHS' Five Year Forward View, before taking questions and answers from the gathered audience.

A group of qualified oncology nurses from hospitals across the region were also introduced to the Chief Nursing Officer. They had been at Northumbria to take part in a chemotherapy simulation exercise as part of their continuing professional development and spoke about their experiences working with chemotherapy drugs and the need to be able to support patients undergoing treatment.

Ms Cummings then met with staff and students representing Northumbria's various nursing societies and was shown We Are Human, a film produced by mental health nursing students earlier this year, highlighting what they felt it meant to be a nurse.

Jane Cummings said: “It’s really important for me to meet the nurses of the future and the students I’ve met have been absolutely inspirational. From what I have seen, the facilities for nurse education are very good at Northumbria. The students have given me some really good examples of what they are doing and how the training they are receiving has given them the confidence to be able to go out and care for people and to react to different scenarios, issues and needs of patients.”

Third-year Children's Nursing student, Emma Sebag-Montefiore, said: “Northumbria offers some amazing opportunities that I’m really grateful to have experienced over the last three years. We feel really inspired and motivated after Jane’s visit and it’s made me really pleased to come into the profession. The core of nursing will always be – as Jane said today – about care and compassion. That's going to be a key theme throughout my career, and the career of future nurses.”

Professor Kath McCourt, CBE, Executive Dean of Health and Life Sciences at Northumbria University, added: “It’s very important for nurses embarking on their careers to understand the significant role the Chief Nursing Officer for England has in nursing policy and guidelines during a challenging time for the profession.

“We are delighted to have been able to showcase the strength of the nursing profession in the North East to the Chief Nursing Officer for England. We have a long heritage of people in practice who have been, and continue to be, educated at Northumbria University. For pre-registration and continuing professional development, Northumbria is the place that offers a full and broad spectrum of education across all nursing specialisms.”

Northumbria University's nursing courses allow students to specialise in nursing for various groups including children, adults and those with mental health issues or learning disabilities. For more information on nursing courses at Northumbria University visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/nursing