25 years of nursing at LJMU
A year before Liverpool Polytechnic became Liverpool John Moores University, another major change happened at the institution. In April 1991, the Liverpool School of Nursing and Midwifery amalgamated with the Poly, laying the foundations for today’s School of Nursing and Allied Health.
To kick start its 25th anniversary celebrations, the School brought former staff, students and health and social care sector partners together for an event on Friday 22 April.
Hosted by Pro-Vice-Chancellor (External Engagement) Dr Edward Harcourt, the event featured talks by former senior lecturer and past president of the Royal College of Nursing, Andrea Spyropoulos plus former deputy school director, Pauline Stitt, who helped manage the initial merger, while the current Director Raphaela Kane outlined the School’s new five year mission. ‘Then and now’ demonstrations also took place in the School’s clinical practice suites.
In 1991, the challenge was how to transform nursing and midwifery education from hospital-based apprenticeships into higher education degrees and diplomas that would enable nurses to deliver increasingly complex treatments. Twenty five years later, the nursing, midwifery and allied health professions face a raft of new challenges at a critical moment in the history of the NHS.
Now, just as in 1991, the School of Nursing and Allied Health is committed to working in partnership with health and social care organisations to provide effective solutions that meet the needs of the evolving health and social care agenda.
“Education has always been critical to nursing, and the move to higher education was the right place for nurses to be. We deserve to be alongside other professionals,” said Andrea Spyropoulos. “The challenges we face today are the same as 100 years ago. Times changes but principles endure. We need to create a culture of caring and education is the rock-bed for this.”
The current School Director Raphaela Kane added: “Everything we do – from our professional education to our internationally acclaimed research – is directly influenced by wider changes in the health sector and by the needs of our stakeholders in health and social care. We face challenging times ahead but there are also huge opportunities for growth and development too. As our brief history demonstrates, the nursing, midwifery and allied health professions have adapted and developed before. By working closely with our stakeholders, we can continue to innovate and advance healthcare services in the best interests of those at the centre of our work: our patients.”
Share your memories
LJMU is using social media to contact colleagues, past and present, with connections to the School of Nursing and Allied Health. Over 10,000 people followed the anniversary event on social media and a new Facebook group, which already has over 2,000 members, is helping reunite former colleagues who worked in the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen hospitals. To share your memories of working or studying at the School, email LJMUcares25@ljmu.ac.uk or use #LJMUcares25 on twitter.
You can also find out about events at the School by following @LJMUEHC or liking the Faculty of Education, Health and Community Facebook page.
Future events
During 2016/2017, the School Nursing and Allied Health will be staging a series of anniversary events, including inaugural lectures, conferences and symposiums. Further details will be published on the website soon.
