Hampshire healthcare workers 'honoured' to be a part of Florence Nightingale services including one at Westminster Abbey for International Nurses Day

Joshua Hammond, a frailty practitioner at Southern Health was an escort to the lamp bearer during the Florence Nightingale service at Westminster Abbey on May 11.

Consultant practitioner in frailty, Lucy Lewis, also attended the service and on May 15 will take the important role of lamp bearer at a ceremony in Romsey Abbey where the beautiful stain glass window depiction of Florence Nightingale will be dedicated to the Bishop of Southampton.

The events are part of a week of International Nurses Day celebrations, with the day falling on May 12.

Joshua said: ‘It is a huge honour to be involved with the service, Florence Nightingale was a pioneer and is still inspiring people today.

‘Nurses have done so much over the last few years so it’s great to be recognised for the job we love and to take part in experiences like this.’

Lucy added: ‘Being a Florence Nightingale Foundation scholar and alumni has meant so much to me both personally and professionally so I was thrilled to be asked to be the lamp bearer at the Romsey Abbey ceremony.’

Southern Health employs more than 2,900 nurses covering a huge range of skills and areas, including inpatient and community work across any number of specialities from mental health to school nursing, diabetes to end-of-life care.

Last year nurses helped the trust provide more than 1.3 million patient contacts and 145,738 outpatient appointments.