Carol Moore (Team Lead Health Inclusion Team) and Derrick Okrah (Ward Manager of Forest Close) represented their nursing colleagues on behalf of SHSC at the 58th Florence Nightingale Memorial service.

The service was held at St Paul's Cathedral, London on Tuesday 16 May. It is an annual event usually held at Westminster Abbey, that wasn't possible this year due to the Coronation of King Charles III.

Florence Nightingale was known as 'The Lady with the Lamp' as she made her rounds at night tending to soldiers wounded in the Crimean War.

Reflecting on the service, Carol said:

"It was great honour to do be invited and attend the service. We, with many nursing colleagues from around the world shared in an incredibly moving service of celebration of the nursing and midwifery professions and remembrance.

"We also remembered nurses and midwives named in two rolls of honour - The Covid-19 Pandemic Roll of Honour and The Commonwealth Roll of Honour.

"The Covid-19 Pandemic Roll of Honour, introduced in 2022, is dedicated to all nurses, midwives, nursing associates and health care support workers who courageously and selflessly provided care during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was carried through the Cathedral by the Chief Nursing Officers and representatives of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

"The Commonwealth Roll of Honour, introduced in 1965, commemorates nurses who lost their lives on active service in the Second World War and was compiled by the British Commonwealth Nurses’ War Memorial Fund. It was carried in silence through the Cathedral by a military nurse and escorted by the Chief Nursing Officers of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force."