MEDIA RELEASE 30 January 2015 2 pages FYPC_005_15 Leading School Nurse receives Queen’s Nurse title Margaret Clarke, Professional Lead for School Nursing has been honoured with the title of Queen’s Nurse for her outstanding contribution to local and national school nursing practice. The Queen’s Nursing Institute awards the prestigious title to nurses that demonstrate exemplary commitment to improving standards of care, and to learning and leadership. Maggie, who works for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) leads the school nursing service across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Her leadership has championed the development of new and innovative ways of working including; an awardwinning text messaging system for young people, a nationally recognised health for kids website and, most recently, trialling a virtual clinic using Skype to enable children in very rural settings to talk to a school nurse. She also represents and influences school nursing both regionally and nationally, and is involved in ‘WeSchoolNurses’ – a Twitter community encouraging school nurses to use social media to share best practice ideas. As a Queen’s Nurse, Maggie joins other community nurses and midwives who have been recognised for their commitment to high quality care for patients, and who are role models for colleagues. She will link into a national Queen’s Nurse network and a regional group for local learning and development. Chris Buzzard, Service Manager for Health Visiting and School Nursing, said: “I am proud to have Maggie working for my service as she promotes school nursing with a real passion. She upholds the highest standards with real determination and innovation whilst making school nursing as accessible as possible to local children and young people.” Maggie said: “I am passionate and committed to my role as professional lead for LPT’s School Nursing team and feel honoured to become a Queen’s Nurse. I believe this role will further enable me to raise the standards of care given to local children and young people and to influence the development of national 002-11 page 1 of 1 pages School Nursing practice. I am looking forward to joining the QN community of like-minded, professional and skilled nurses and I feel that this support will enable me to continue to introduce innovative ways of working in our community and neighbourhoods to improve the health and wellbeing of our children and young people.” ENDS Note to editors Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) provides a range of health and wellbeing services mainly for people living Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. The Trust serves a population of one million, has a budget in excess of £267 million and employs approximately 5,400 staff. For more information visit www.leicspart.nhs.uk. For further information contact: Kamy Basra, Communications Manager, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Tel: 0116 295 0919, E: [email protected] 002-11 page 2 of 1 pages