Long Service Awards
Year after year, community nurses and midwives are out in all weathers in the communities of Scotland. They support people and their families and carers in all kinds of settings such as care homes, prisons, schools, workplaces, GP surgeries, and at home. As a way of recognising this commitment, Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland gives long service awards to those nurses and midwives who have worked for 21 years or more in a community setting.
Read our guidance below on how to arrange a long service award event with QNIS.
If you would like to organise an event in your area to celebrate community nurses that you work with, please get in touch.
The awards are for registered nurses and midwives who have worked in a community setting for 21 years or more including, but not limited to, community mental health nursing, midwifery, health visiting, general practice nursing, criminal justice nursing, occupational health nursing, district nursing, community hospital nursing, school nursing, community nurse education and management.
How to arrange your Long Service Award event
Guidance for organisers
QNIS recognises the importance of prioritising taking time out to celebrate the service and commitment of community nursing staff who meet the needs of the people of Scotland day after day, year after year. We are committed to supporting employers to celebrate the long service of their staff by offering an award pack (badge and certificate) and guidance for organising an event. In addition, if we have sufficient notice, we will endeavour to send a QNIS representative to the event to speak about the awards, and to add our recognition and appreciation for those receiving awards.
QNIS Community Nursing Awards for Long Service are for registered nursing staff who have a total of 21 years of service in a community setting, including those who are community nursing educators and managers.
These awards are offered to nursing and midwifery staff employed by NHS Health Boards or any other organisation employing registered nurses and are to be presented at locally organised events. We are able to accommodate one event per Health Board/employer in a 12-month period.
Please note that we no longer accept applications for individual awards.
How to arrange an event
If you are thinking about organising a Long Service Event, please get in touch. You will need to have an idea of numbers and possible dates that you would like to hold the event. QNIS requires 8 weeks’ notice for events. This will allow time for emails to circulate around those who might be eligible and for gathering the required information to complete the form. QNIS will provide an application form which employers will be asked to complete in full and return. It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that all applicants have at least 21 years of service as a community nurse. Hospital roles are not taken into account in number of years’ service.
The form should be returned to QNIS no later than 6 weeks before the agreed event date for large events, and 4 weeks for smaller events (under 50 awardees).
QNIS will provide the certificates and awards, and if attending, a representative from QNIS will present the awards and say a few words. We can also bring literature, tablecloths and banners.
Sadly, because of the current financial pressures which also affect us as a charity, QNIS is no longer able to provide financial support towards events.
The event
The design of the event is entirely up to you. Here are some things you may wish to consider:
Using the event as an opportunity to showcase projects and innovation
Creating your own awards for support staff who have also worked for 21 years or more
Inviting friends and family
Inviting contemporary and retired Queen’s Nurses in your area
A typical awards event would be around 90 minutes:
Welcome by Senior Nurse (10 mins)
Speaker from QNIS (5 mins)
Presentation of awards (if individual photos are taken as awards are made – roughly one minute per award) (30 mins based on 30/45 awards)
Group Photo (10 mins)
Tea/Coffee
QNIS will supply the certificates in alphabetical order of surname and a corresponding list with the job title, employer and number of years of service for each person being awarded. Certificates and badges will be sent by post ahead of the event.
Communications and Media
Our QNIS communications team can support your comms team with media and social media activity.
If you are sharing news about the event on social media, please remember to tag us so we can share your post.
We would also like to be able to use any photographs taken on our website and if we take any photographs on the day will be happy to make these available to those in the photographs or to your comms team.