Hear from our CEO, Professor Greta Westwood CBE, as she reflects on the recent Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service and the FNF Students’ Day.
“12 May is always a significant date in the FNF calendar, but this year felt particularly special. I will try to explain.
We began the day with FNF Students’ Day, a gathering that never fails to remind me why this work matters so deeply. The energy in the room was extraordinary. Over 100 future nursing and midwifery leaders, full of ambition, curiosity, and heart. They will define what nursing and midwifery leadership looks like for the next generation.
But it was one student’s story that stopped me in my tracks.
A brilliant panel of early career nurses and midwives spoke passionately about stepping into their professions. During questions, one student spoke openly and courageously about the personal adversity she had faced in her journey into nursing. It was the kind of challenge that might have caused many to walk away. This student nurse, from the global majority, had been given feedback from her practice placement. She was told she was “too quiet, too kind and not resilient enough.” Goodness, what feedback is that? A nurse on the panel came straight back, without hesitation: “You are good enough just as you are. The profession needs more of you, not fewer. The best leaders I know lead with kindness and listen more than they speak. Don’t change who you are, change the room you’re in.” I found myself thinking this is exactly who FNF exists for. Not just those who arrive with every advantage, but those who arrive despite everything.
The day was brilliantly ended by Mark and Bonnie Barnes, co-founders of the DAISY Foundation, whose tribute to nursing, told through the words of patient nominators for DAISY honourees, left not a dry eye in the house. This was followed by the graduation of our FNF Fellows. A huge thank you to the FNF team, and to the University of East London whose generous sponsorship made it a day everyone will remember for the rest of their careers.
Exhausted and exhilarated in equal measure, I made my way to Westminster Abbey for the Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service. Again, that swell of pride. We had created a service that 2,200 nurses and midwives were preparing to attend. To stand in that magnificent space, surrounded by colleagues from every background and every corner of the world, all gathered to honour a legacy that continues to shape healthcare, was truly humbling.
We were honoured that scripture readings were delivered by the Rt. Hon. Wes Streeting MP, the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Edinburgh. The sermon delivered by Reverend Joyce Fletcher, an ordained minister, and Registered Nurse, carried a message I will hold for a long time. She spoke with warmth, wisdom, and conviction: “There is more that unites us than divides us”. In a world that so often feels fractured, those words landed with quiet but profound power.
Looking around the Abbey, I could see exactly what she meant. Nurses and midwives united by a shared commitment to care, compassion, and the belief that every person deserves to be looked after well. Florence Nightingale crossed every boundary of her time in pursuit of that belief. The congregation gathered in her name on 12 May 2026 as living proof that her spirit continues.
The future of nursing and midwifery leadership is in very safe hands.”
