Queen's Institute of Community Nursing

Did You Know?

• One in four people over 75 in the UK need a district nurse's care at home, rising to 1 in 2 people over 85.
• The title 'Queen's Nurse' was first given to district nurses who trained with the QICN and undertook its written examination, and was reinstated in 2007 after a 40-year gap.
• The QICN launched the 'Right Nurse, Right Skills' campaign against a background of declining numbers of trained district nurses and rising numbers of health care assistants.

History

The origins of organised district nursing trace to 1859, when Liverpool merchant William Rathbone employed nurse Mary Robinson to care for his wife at home. After his wife's death, Rathbone had Robinson nurse people in their own homes who could not afford care, and he campaigned for more community nurses. In the 1880s, Elizabeth Malleson, concerned by the lack of local nursing for pregnant women, arranged a trained nurse and midwife for Gotherington.

She formed a national organisation with Lady Lucy Hicks-Beech, launching a Rural Nursing Association despite Florence Nightingale's opposition. In 1887, a Jubilee Fund of £70,000 was raised for Victoria's Golden Jubilee, and the Queen directed the money toward nursing. Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses was chartered in 1889. Malleson's nurses became the Rural Nursing Division in 1891.

Rosalind Paget served as first superintendent. Queen Alexandra became patron in 1901. The charity was known as the Queen's Institute of District Nursing from 1928 to 1973, as the Queen's Nursing Institute from 1973 to 2025, and as the Queen's Institute of Community Nursing from March 2025.

Notable staff

Several early superintendents and inspectors of the Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses trained at The London Hospital under Eva Luckes. These included Sarah Ann Andrew, superintendent of Gateshead Nursing Association from 1896 to 1912; Rosalind Paget, the first superintendent and later an inspector general, who was William Rathbone's niece; Josephine Bourdillon, who served as assistant lady superintendent, inspector, and superintendent in Hackney from 1907 to 1920; Sarah Edith Butler, county superintendent in Sussex from 1912 to 1915, who drowned in 1916 while serving in Alexandria with Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service; Norah Farrant, county superintendent in Sussex and later inspector of various areas from 1918 to 1935; Agnes May Stanford, county superintendent of East Sussex from 1919 to 1921; and Alice Maud Mersham Tilbury, superintendent of Essex County Nursing Association from July 1901 to April 1926.

In 1944, Eleanor Jeanette Merry formed the education department, later becoming general superintendent from 1951 to 1958. Elena Richmond represented the QNI on the Nurses Salaries Committee chaired by Lord Rushcliffe, which published two reports in 1943.

Programmes and services

The QICN offers opportunities for senior community nurses to progress professionally. It develops voluntary standards of education and practice for community nursing specialisms, an area that expanded after 2022 following the Nursing and Midwifery Council's review of specialist practice. The charity provides grants to nurses in financial need and educational grants for accredited community nursing courses. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it launched TalkToUs, a confidential listening service for community nurses.

Since 1990, the Community Nurse Innovation Programme has supported hundreds of nurse-led projects with grants up to £5,000 and a year of professional development. The Homeless Health Programme, launched in 2007 with Big Lottery Fund pilot funding until 2010, supports health professionals working with people without a secure home, establishing a national network that shares knowledge and practice for professionals serving groups such as Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. In 2009, the QICN launched a website showcasing community nursing history since 1859, later updated and rebranded.

Awards

The charity presents several annual awards to individual community nurses at an Awards Ceremony. The Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Award for Outstanding Service, founded in 1994, recognises exceptional service through nursing practice in community or primary health care. The Long Service Award is given to nurses with 21 or more years in the community. The Philip Goodeve-Docker Memorial Prize is awarded to an outstanding student at each university offering the District Nursing Specialist Practitioner Qualification programme, named after a young man who died raising funds for the charity on a Greenland ice sheet expedition.

The Dora Rylance Memorial Prize honours outstanding Health Visiting SCHPN students. The Ellen Mary Memorial Prize recognises outstanding General Practice Nursing Specialist Practitioner Qualification students. The International Community Nurse of the Year Award, created in 2021, is for internationally educated nurses working in England. The William Rathbone X Annual Award is for excellence in executive nurse leadership of community nursing services.