Posted on: 22 July 2022
“Don’t let this be the end of the journey – this is just the start.”
Chief Nurse, Maria O’Brien, opened a ceremony today (22 July), to congratulate and honour CNWL’s first cohort of Chief Nurse Fellows. Each fellow was presented with a certificate and plaque to give thanks for their hard work and contributions over the last year.
Picture shows (from left to right): Clarence Gwashavanhu, Yvonne Kayiya and Phanuel Mtape. See all pictures below.
The professional development programme, the Chief Nurse Fellowship, was launched in March 2021 and designed to develop future nursing leaders.
We announced three Chief Nurse Fellows: Clarence Gwashavanhu (Nurse consultant, CAMHS), Phanuel Mtape (Team Manager, Mental Health Hospital Liaison Team) and Yvonne Kayiya (Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist). They each joined us today, alongside family members and colleagues, to celebrate their achievements in the last 12 months. Of course, the celebration wouldn't be complete without cake!
“In its first year, we had a particular emphasis on raising the profile of mental health nursing, as well as supporting ethnic minority nurses to develop their leadership skills” Maria continues. “It’s been an immense pleasure to see how much you’ve grown over this year, and I sincerely thank you for all your hard work.”
Throughout the programme, each Fellow was tasked with undertaking an improvement project, which involved completing a piece of research around quality improvement or service initiatives, presenting their findings at the ceremony.
Read more about the projects below:
- Workforce Transformation and Health Education England Competency Framework (Older People Mental Health)
- Identifying physical health skills and potential gaps amongst mental health nurses
- Safe staffing in Community Mental Health Teams
Also joining us on the day was Directors of Nursing, Kim Cox and Helen Willetts, Bertha Matunge, the Fellowship Programme Director, senior leaders, and representatives from the Education Team.
Bertha said: “I feel extremely honoured to work with these fantastic Nurse Leaders. This first cohort has lit a fire across the organisation with their inspirational passion and enthusiasm and I am excited to continue working with them as Chief Nurse Fellow Alumni.”
We concluded the day by introducing the new cohort of Chief Nurse Fellows, who are all “looking forward to the journey”. Nellie Kamau, one of the three new Fellows, said: “I was inspired to apply because I want to see people who look like me in the leadership space.”
Read more here.