A nurse working at a medical centre in Falkirk has been awarded the prestigious Queen’s Nurse award.

Gabriela Maxwell was selected earlier this year to take part in a nine-month development programme run by the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland (QNIS).

The Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) was nominated for her “high quality, compassionate nursing care in the community” and her work to embed the ANP role in the primary care team.

Ms Maxwell, who started working at the Graeme Medical Centre recently, previously worked for many years as a hospital intensive care nurse. She says undertaking the programme has been a real boost for her:

“What I love about being an ANP in primary care is that you see people across their lifetime – you may see them in early childhood, as teenagers and then as young adults. I want to make a difference for every person I meet – everyone deserves the opportunity to live well and keep well.

“The real positive thing for me is the continuity of relationships – trust and knowledge of people’s lives builds over time.

“The Queen’s Nurse programme has been completely different from anything that I have ever done before. It has re-ignited my passion for nursing and allowed me to reconnect with a nursing community that shares the same standards and values.”

Other community nurses in the group of new Queen’s Nurses from across Scotland include a Macmillan nurse, a nurse working in homeless services and care home nurses, as well as district nurses, school nurses and health visitors.

They were all presented with their title by author Christie Watson at the ceremony at Edinburgh’s Waldorf Astoria hotel.

Lesley Thomson, head of community nursing for NHS Forth Valley, says ANPs are playing a key role at a time when primary care is changing, where the aim is for more patients to be seen by non-GP members of the primary care team, where appropriate, including paramedics, pharmacists and ANPs:

“I’m delighted that Gabriela has had the opportunity to complete this important nine-month development programme and I am sure she is looking forward to sharing her experience to further improve the care and support delivered to local people in Falkirk.”

In 2019 the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland is celebrating its 130th anniversary. The original Queen’s Nurses provided care and health education to people in their own homes and became well respected figures within their community.

Following the introduction of a national certificate for district nursing, QNIS ceased training, awarding the QN title for the final time in 1969.

But Queen’s Nurses were reintroduced to Scotland in 2017, with 20 community nurses chosen to take part in a development programme which would see them become the first modern Queen’s Nurses.

QNIS chief executive and nurse director Clare Cable says they are “extraordinary role models” for community nursing.