St Monica Trust nurse ‘lights the way’ for adult social care nursing
A St Monica Trust nurse had the honour of being the Lamp Carrier at the Florence Nightingale Commemorative Service.
Emily Pimm was nominated from hundreds of Florence Nightingale Scholars and is the first nurse from the adult social care sector to be chosen as the Lamp Carrier.
Emily qualified as a nurse in 2006 and works as a Social Care Deputy Manager at St Monica Trust’s John Wills House Care Home in Westbury-on-Trym.
She was awarded a Florence Nightingale Foundation Leadership Scholarship in 2022 and has gone on to become a co-chair for the South West’s Social Care Nurse Advisory Council.
Emily said: “I feel very honoured to have been the Lamp Carrier at the Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service and would like to thank my colleagues at the St Monica Trust for all their support.
"I’m so proud to represent social care nurses and to celebrate what has been an exciting and pivotal year for the care sector.
“The Florence Nightingale Foundation Leadership Scholarship and Social Care Nursing Advisory Council Programme has helped me to grow in many ways, as well as fuelling my passion to raise the voice and elevate the visibility of social care nurses.”
The Lady with the lamp
The commemorative service was held at Westminster Abbey on 15 May with 2,000 guests in attendance.
The service is an annual celebration of thanks for nurses and midwives from across the UK who continue Florence Nightingale’s legacy.
Florence Nightingale was known as “The Lady with The Lamp” as she made her rounds at night tending to the soldiers wounded in the Crimean War.
The ceremonial lamp carried by Emily represents ‘the undying spirit of the service displayed by Florence Nightingale’, still demonstrated by nurses and midwives today.’
During the service, Emily was escorted by two Lamp Carriers and carried the burning lamp through the abbey where she placed it on the altar.
This year’s ceremony marked the 204th anniversary year of Florence Nightingale’s birth on 12 May 1820.
Emily said: “There are thousands of amazing nurses out there, but social care is not always at the forefront of people’s minds when thinking about career pathways or educational development.
“Being the Lamp Carrier is a real opportunity to build on all the work being done to promote the social care sector to nurses and I feel very honoured for the opportunity to be a part of that.”
1.52 million work in adult social care
Around 1.52 million people worked in the UK’s Adult Social Care Sector in 2022/23, with three-quarters of those working in direct care roles.
Adult social care supports people who are older, living with a disability or physical or mental illness to live independently.
This support can cover practical activities, personal care and social work, and is delivered by the voluntary sector, independent providers and local government.
Government of the United Kingdom Chief Nurse for Social Care, Deborah Sturdy said: “I am pleased that in the 59th year of the Florence Nightingale Commemorative Service we saw Emily Pimm carry the lamp in this year’s procession and shine the light on social care nursing for the very first time.
“Emily was accompanied by Walter Chikanya who also represented nurses from across social care at this important event.
"This signals the importance of the contribution of nursing in this specialism and represents the very best of nurse-led care on the national and international stage.”
Highly regarded nursing preceptorship
The St Monica Trust is a Bristol-based charity operating five retirement villages and four care homes across Bristol, BANES and North Somerset.
The Trust offers a highly-regarded preceptorship scheme that supports newly qualified nurses and Level 5 Trainee Nursing Associate Apprenticeships.
Chief Executive of the St Monica Trust, David Williams said: “We cannot think of a more appropriate advocate for adult social care nursing than Emily.
"This is a well-deserved acknowledgement of all her achievements, both within the Trust and as a Florence Nightingale Foundation Scholar.”
“Since she joined us in 2015, Emily has consistently displayed a passion for ensuring that our residents can flourish within our care home environments and lead meaningful lives full of connection, contribution and choice.
"We could not be more proud of her.”
For more information on the Trust’s preceptorship and nursing apprenticeships, please go to https://www.stmonicatrust.org.uk/jobs or email recruitment@stmonicatrust.org.uk.