Florence Nightingale Foundation

The Foundation works to improve patient care in the UK by extending scholars' skills and knowledge and promoting innovation in practice. It achieves this through educational programs, leadership development, and clinical nursing research including the development of the Florence Nightingale Foundation Chairs in Clinical Nursing Practice Research.

Florence Nightingale Foundation, Burdett Trust and Dods partnered to organize the Nightingale2020 Conference to mark the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale. The conference took place on 27–28 October 2020, at ExceL London.

• 2011 – In the Footsteps of Florence – Sharing Innovation, Delivering the Solutions
• 2012 – Sharing Innovation, Delivering the Solutions
• 2013 – Going for Gold: Inspirational Practice and Excellence in Care
• 2014 – Be Inspired, Be Energized, Be Motivated
• 2015 – What Good Looks Like: Leading Quality Care
• 2016 – Branching Out from Solid Roots
• 2017 – In It Together: Connections, Networks and Alliances

A Commemoration Service is held in May of each year to celebrate Florence Nightingale. The service honors Florence on her birthday, May 12, and celebrates International Nurses Day.

Central to the service is the Lamp which was given to the Foundation by Sir Dan Mason OBE in 1968 in memory of his mother Kathleen Dampier-Bennett, a trustee and supporter of the Foundation. The Lamp is kept in the Florence Nightingale Chapel in Westminster Abbey. During the ceremony, several processions take place. Scholars of the Foundation, escorted by student nurses, process the Lamp to signify the knowledge of nursing and the transfer to future generations. The Chelsea Pensioners process in memory of Florence Nightingale for her care of the troops during the Crimean Campaign. The final procession is for the Nurses’ Roll of Honor, compiled by the British Commonwealth Nurses War Memorial Fund and kept in the Florence Nightingale Chapel in the Abbey. It is carried out to honor those killed in the conflict and to underpin the links with military nursing and nurses who have lost their lives in the service of others.

Students Day is an annual event in which students from each University in the UK with a School of Nursing and Midwifery, are invited to spend the day at the Foundation in London. The main venue for the day is The Governors Hall at St. Thomas Hospital. The event includes a morning plenary discussion session in which students are invited to raise questions or concerns with a panel of senior nurses where they engage in a professional debate, a tour of the Florence Nightingale Museum, a visit to the Florence Nightingale Chapel in Westminster Abbey, and attendance at the Annual Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service.

The Florence Nightingale Foundation Presentation of Certificates is held bi-annually and acts as the graduation ceremony for completed scholars. The event is an opportunity to celebrate the impact scholars have had on patient care and services.

In 2014, the Foundation’s Patron Sir Robert Francis, was the keynote speaker and described Florence Nightingale scholars as the ‘future leaders of the profession’.

In 2019, Florence Nightingale Foundation launched the Alumni Community to allow members to remain connected to the work of the Foundation, engage with other scholars, share their ideas, knowledge, and expertise, and give something back, by raising funds and getting involved in mentoring current scholars.