Queen's Nursing Institute

In 1859, a philanthropic Liverpool merchant, William Rathbone, employed a nurse to care for his wife at home. After his wife’s death, Rathbone retained the nurse and asked her to help p oor people in the neighbourhood. Then, convinced of the need for wider availability of local nursing care, he raised funds for the recruitment, training and employment of nurses to go into the deprived areas of the city, which he divided into 'districts', each with an honorary 'Lady Superintendent'.

This was the beginning of 'District' Nursing. By the end of the 19th century, the idea had been taken up across the country and, with the help of Florence Nightingale and the warm approval of Queen Victoria, the movement became a national voluntary organisation responsible for setting standards and training nurses. The Queen's Nursing Institute was founded in 1887 and chartered in 1889 as Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses. From 1928 -1973 it was known as The Queen's Institute of District Nursing.

Today, The Queen’s Nursing Institute is a charity dedicated to the support of all community nurses (including District Nurses, Practice Nurses, Mental Health Nurses, Sexual Health Nurses and others) and to the well being of their patients in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Institute provides professional and financial assistance for community nursing projects. In recent years they have funded over a hundred nurse-led projects across England, Wales and Northern Ireland that range from tackling childhood obesity to improving the quality of life for sufferers of dementia.

Through their welfare service the QNI provides financial assistance to community nurses who, through illness infirmity or age, are unable to work.

A third strand of the Institute’s work is to influence policy and practice to improve care for patients; this is done through the publication of briefing papers explaining changes in the health service to community nurses and through participating in Department of Health policy groups.