Following an application process, Debra Pease, Senior Clinical Services Manager for NECS will receive the prestigious title of Queen’s Nurse.
Debra will receive her badge and certificate from Queen Camilla at an awards ceremony in November.
The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) is a charity that works to improve the nursing care of people in their own homes in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Following Queen Victoria, who founded the charity, Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother were all Patrons of the QNI during the years when they were Queens Consort and Queens Dowager. The Queen Mother was Patron of the QNI from 1953 until her death in 2002, when Queen Elizabeth II became Patron. Queen Camilla is the current Patron of the QNI.
The Queen’s Nurse is a significant and historic title which is given to nurses who are delivering and leading outstanding care and is awarded by the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) and was introduced in the 1880s.
The title is open to registered nurses with more than five years’ experience working in the community. Managers and patients provide feedback about applicants, which is assessed along with their application.
Debra said: “I was thrilled and honoured when I received the email from the Queens Nurse Institute recognising my commitment to ongoing learning, leadership and excellence in healthcare. The Queens Nurse Institute is a network of like minded nurses who are not only inspirational, but dedicated to improving patient-care and making a difference to the journey people have in the healthcare system.
“The title enables me to grow as an inspirational leader and an innovator as well as develop and empower future leaders and encourage new people into the NHS, which for the longevity of the NHS is key. I also want to continue collaborating with others to promote high quality health care, continually strive for high standards of care and ensure the voices of the users of our services are heard to ensure our improvement plans are what the general public need.
“Being a part of a historic institute is a great privilege and I look forward to networking with other Queen’s Nurses, learning and sharing our experiences of innovation and improvement.
“I am a dual qualified adult and children’s nurse who has completed my learning both within a hospital school of nursing and at university. Both experiences were very different, and I still hold both very dear to my heart however I can regale many an amusing story of my training. I come from an era of hats, capes (I still have mine) tights and sensible shoes-what I would have given for crocs when I was on the wards.
“During my career I have worked on adult and children’s intensive care units including the neonatal unit, adult and children’s medical wards and a spinal unit. I then went into community and had several community jobs which considering when I first started my training there was only District Nursing as a community role so already nursing had moved on. I have also been lucky enough to volunteer in Romania within the children’s homes when Ceaușescu was overturned and was the fundamental reason I became a children’s nurse and went on to do my children’s nurse training.
“I then moved into complex care and eventually found Continuing Healthcare and have been here ever since. I have seen the roles within this process change dramatically and now the teams must be legal as well as clinical experts, however no two days are alike and keeps us on our toes.
“I have never regretted being a nurse and I am still passionate about patient care but nowadays I speak in terms of personalisation, choice & equity, and dignity especially at the end of a person’s life. I try pass my passion on by being part of the nurse ambassador programme since 2021, speaking in schools and colleges about the different roles I have undertaken as a nurse to attract the future healthcare workforce by getting young people interested in the variety of roles and professions within the NHS.
“I completely embodied the concept of the NHS and to this day fully believe everyone deserves high quality of care and treatment regardless of social or economic status. I have committed my career to deliver high standards of practice and patient-centred care.
“I also believe to deliver best practice and improve care for patients we need to embrace innovation and transformation keeping ourselves up to date with new technologies and advancement of medicine which will focus on improving patient well-being and achieve better health outcomes for all.”