Joanne’s Christmas message

Dear colleagues, friends and alumni

As we come to the end of 2024 and I am in reflection mode, I am smiling from ear to ear, my head full of amazing memories and moments of absolute joy.

Saying that, I do not underestimate the challenges out in our health and care system. In some ways, 2024 has been possibly the hardest for our profession in my 35-year career.

I feel this year has been a very positive one for FoNS, and am especially pleased that we are working on two national programmes supporting nurses and their teams in mental health and social care in collaboration with some phenomenal leaders and commissioners. As part of this, we were able to welcome two lived experience leads and we are working towards ensuring the voice of lived experience is hard baked into our programmes and the organisation itself.

It has also been a pleasure to welcome other new members of staff to the team and I’m delighted that with a bigger organisation comes more capacity to support nurses and nursing and to ensure that the values we hold as central, are out there in the wider nursing world. It is a source of pride to me to be part of the nursing and midwifery communities and thank every one of you for supporting us on our journey into person-centredness and our focus on healthful workplace cultures.

Looking forward, 2025 will no doubt continue to challenge us but I’m confident that as an organisation and as a profession, our strong values will enable us to address the often ‘too difficult to do’ issues. Nursing is a passion we all share.

So it just remains for me to say, on behalf of our team, Board of Trustees, and Patrons, we wish you a very happy festive season.

Look after yourselves

Joanne