Preceptees Award Ceremony Talk

As you know, the Charity agreed at our Trustee meeting in September 2018 to sponsor badges for newly qualified nurses who have successfully completed their Preceptorship course at UCLH. We are hoping to build new links with nurses at UCLH as they begin their careers and open up the membership to these early career nurses who will take forward and develop nursing at UCLH in the future – building on the record of excellent care that the existing membership has carefully built over many years.

This is an abridged version of the talk given by Professor Helen Allan Chair of UCH London Nurses’ Charity at the Preceptees Award Ceremony 16th July 2019 prior to awarding the preceptees their badges with Flo Panel-Coates the Chief Nurse at UCLH:
I am delighted to be here today to assist with the presentation of the Preceptee awards and to hand out the badges which the Charity, UCH London Nurses’ Charity, has sponsored. To meet you all and congratulate on your success on completing your preceptorship training at UCLH! Well done!

My research into newly qualified nurses shows how important the period you have just been through (your period as a preceptee) and about to enter is in your career – the principles and practices of good leadership, management and organisation to you establish now for good, safe, effective and compassionate care will stay with you for ever.

I am here as Chair of UCH London Nurses’ Charity. The Charity is delighted to sponsor the preceptee badges you will receive today – we’re proud to continue the links with nursing at UCLH. We are a membership of many 100s ex-UCH trained nurses.
I thought I’d tell you a bit about my career once I’d trained at UCH! I trained from 1975-1978; I staffed in Oncology and Radiotherapy before leaving to travel around Europe in a van….I then returned to staff at Kings College Hospital in female orthopaedics, back to UCH to staff in Outpatients and then ICU which was in the Cruciform building – Ward 5:1. I left again to complete my ENB ICU course – and then came back as a ward sister on 5:1 from 1982-1986. I loved that job! I then left and worked as a clinical teacher on male medical during the early days of HIV/AIDS before leaving to complete a degree in Sociology at the London School of Economics and then a PGDE and Registered Nurse Tutor course at the Royal College of Nursing. I was a tutor at Bloomsbury College of Nursing & Midwifery for four years then before going back to the RCN as a lecturer. I completed my PhD and then went into research, finally being appointed to my 1st Chair in Nursing at the University of Surrey. I now work at Middlesex University where I hold a Chair in Nursing.

Many of us in the Charity have equally interesting CVs and we’d love to pass on some of that expertise and wisdom to early career nurses at UCLH now.

At two points in my career, I applied to the Charity (actually the League at that time) for funding to assist expenses associated with post registration education and travel to conferences. Those funds are available for any member of the Charity to apply for assistance in their education as nurses who either trained or work at UCLH. We are very keen to promote the Charity and fund/sponsor nurses at UCLH today and in the future in their careers and studies. We wish to invest in nursing at UCLH now and in the future.

Once again, our wholehearted congratulations!

Helen Allan, Chair UCH London Nurses’ Charity
July 2019