Nursing in the UK throughout the Queen’s reign

The Platinum Jubilee celebrations, culminating in the Bank Holiday weekend from the 2nd to 5th June 2022, mark the 70 year anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II ascending to the throne.

The bunting is out, platinum puddings are being rustled up and many a street party is planned.

But, while we’re celebrating one beloved national icon, we thought it a good time to look back over the history of another.

In this article, we’re going to revisit 70 years of NHS nursing — from the early days of the health service right up to today.

Nursing in the 1950s

The NHS celebrated its own Platinum Jubilee a few years ago.

Founded in July of 1948, in the aftermath of the Second World War, the NHS set out to provide care, free at the point of service to anyone who needed it.

But in those early days, the service struggled with nurse shortages.

Nursing at this time was viewed as a profession for young, single women. Nurses worked long hours and had to live in nurse accommodation under the strict supervision of a matron.  

Many failed to complete their training. And others were lost from the profession when they married or fell pregnant.

Improvements to training and the recruitment of nurses from overseas helped the NHS to make up some of the shortage (48,000 nurses!) experienced at the start of the decade.

But the 1950s were typified by nursing debates that continue to rage to this day: rates of pay, training, working hours and the importance of immigration.

Nursing in the 1960s

Nursing underwent a lot of change in the 1960s. Educational standards for entering nursing were raised, the first nursing degree courses were established and men were welcomed into the profession.
There was also more flexibility for women who wanted a life beyond their career. Married women were allowed to continue nursing, while part-time work and straight, rather split, shifts made work-life balance a little bit easier.
In the mid-60s, the role of the matron ended and a senior nursing staff grading structure took its place. Many matrons had to reapply (sometimes unsuccessfully) for roles they had been doing for years.
But some felt these changes enabled better collaboration between hospital staff and a more patient-centric way of working.   
By the end of the decade, nurses were campaigning for fair pay. The ‘Raise the Roof’ pay campaign called for increases of up to 50% for existing pay scales and received huge public support. Nurses, supported by the RCN, ended up getting a significant 22% pay increase.

Nursing from the 1970s to 2000

The same disputes rattled on throughout the following decades as nurses helped patients through the AIDS epidemic, supported people after the Lockerbie bombing and helped to care for patients as they underwent new treatments, like heart transplants.

Nurses also began to enjoy a closer relationship with patients. Gone was the strict formality of earlier decades, and patients were actually encouraged to call nurses by their first names.

In 1983, the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC) was created. It developed a code of nursing conduct detailing how nurses could best protect patients’ interests, serve society, justify the trust of the public and maintain a good reputation for nursing.

By the 1990s, nurse training was back on the agenda. Project 2000 revolutionised training programmes, taking things in a more academic rather than clinical direction.

There were concerns that new nurses wouldn’t have the practical knowledge they needed to deliver hands-on patient care. But, more positively, the move to academicise nursing meant nurses’ professional knowledge and skills were better recognised and valued.

Nursing from 2000-2020

By 2005, nurse numbers were at record levels. There were almost 400,000 nurses working within the NHS — and yet, the pressure remained.

The average age of nurses was rising (and continues to rise), meaning that a high proportion are due to retire in the coming years. Brexit also meant that many nurses from the EU chose to leave the NHS and the UK.

On a positive note, the nursing profession continued to evolve with many nurses studying to become specialists (including nurse consultants) in their field of medicine. Because of these advances, nurse consultants are now able to prescribe and manage patient conditions, relieving pressure on doctors and the NHS as a whole.

What else happened during these two decades?

Nursing from 2020 to today

Nursing over the past few years has been dominated by the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nurses of all specialities had to adapt their provision and the care they gave to patients. Some were redeployed and nurse-to-patient ratios were increased.

Many nurses struggled with the fact that no matter how hard they worked, they still couldn’t provide the standard of care to patients that they aspired to.  

To show their appreciation for this exceptionally hard work, a huge number of people took to the streets every Thursday night during lockdown to applaud the NHS and its workers.

While there were debates about the value of this gesture — when nurses lacked appropriate PPE and soon after experienced a real-terms pay cut — it did show how much the UK public values nurses and the work that they do.

In 2021, the Queen also showed the country’s appreciation for NHS workers during the pandemic, and in all of the many years before. She awarded the George Cross — the UK’s highest award for non-military courage — to all NHS staff, past and present.

Like the Queen, NHS nurses have been a part of our lives for as long as many of us can remember.

The dedication nurses show to patients from the start of their lives, right through to the end, in preventing illness and caring for patients, is certainly another thing to celebrate this Jubilee weekend.