A North Lanarkshire community nurse has achieved a remarkable milestone by being named one of only 21 nurses in Scotland to receive the esteemed title of Queen’s Nurse this year.
Lauren Magunnigal, a charge nurse in our Older Adult Community Mental Health team, was joined by her family and manager at a ceremony in Edinburgh celebrating the vital role community nurses, health visitors and midwives carry out across the country.
Lauren successfully completed a rigorous nine-month Queen’s Nurse development program, which encompassed intensive residential workshops, online sessions, and personalised coaching.
During this program, she chose to address a critical issue focusing on promoting equality and inclusion, aiming to make a positive impact on the lives of people under her team’s care.
She said: “This is a massive achievement for me; it brings together everything I’ve worked towards and want to accomplish.
“The Queen’s Nurse award gives a clear platform for community nurses and really champions the work we do in the heart of our communities. Covid was massively disruptive to the work we do and going through the course has helped me look at how we can make a positive difference to people using our Mental Health services.
“The programme really pushed, and helped, me to focus on my personal development, reflect on my work and values and further improve my communication skills. It’s been incredibly helpful and beneficial in focusing me on who I want to be as both a nurse and a leader.
“I really wish all community nurses could experience the Queen’s Nurse programme as it really does develop you as a person and a professional. It has certainly helped me to be more reflective and it’s helping me to explore how we can adapt our services to really respond to the needs of our service users and carers.
“My family has been a huge support through the nine months of the course, especially during the residential modules. The wider team has also been so supportive as they’ve had to pick up work at various times due to the course. My manager Allison Smillie and Michelle McKillop have also been very encouraging and I’ve really grateful to them for nominating me for the programme as the opportunities are endless.
Allison Smillie, Community Mental Health team leader for older people, said: “Lauren is kind, compassionate, and dedicated to the patients and carers she looks after. She is always positive and motivated to improve and develop the services we provide.
“Lauren’s passion lies in dismantling barriers, rekindling community bonds, and addressing the repercussions of social isolation.
“This is reflected in the outreach programme she has been working on as part of the course as well as a number of development initiatives for our team. The outreach is in the local foodbank with an emphasis on early intervention, prevention and building resilience within the community to prevent mental health crisis. This work has been very successful and has led to our referral rate dropping by almost 15%.”
Our chief officer Claire Rae said: “Queen’s Nurses play a vital role in tackling health and care inequalities in North Lanarkshire by working with our residents and encouraging self-care.
“It’s great to see Lauren’s dedication being recognised and celebrated. Health boards are invited to nominate two candidates, so it’s a real testament to Lauren that she was selected to do the course.
“The hard work that she puts in every day makes a very positive impact to the lives of many of our residents, combats social isolation and gives people an opportunity to achieve their goals by leading healthy lives.”
Established in 1889, the Queen’s Nurse Institute Scotland supports, develops, and inspires community nurses and midwives to become agents for health improvement and catalysts for social change.
