Top nurses in training for the London marathon
Chief nurse Ruth May and Florence Nightingale Foundation CEO Greta Westwood will raise funds to support future nurse leaders
England's chief nurse and the head of the Florence Nightingale Foundation are getting ready to run this year's London marathon.
Chief nursing officer Ruth May and Florence Nightingale Foundation chief executive Greta Westwood will be taking on the gruelling 26.2-mile course in aid of the foundation, which offers leadership, research and travel scholarships to nurses and midwives.
‘Florence Nightingale would be proud of us’
Dr May, a former Nightingale scholar, said: 'I am delighted the money raised from this marathon will help develop the nurse and midwife leaders of the future.
'2020 is Year of the Nurse and Midwife and therefore a chance for everyone to celebrate all that is great about our wonderful professions, as well as for me personally to reflect on the incredible opportunities nursing has given me.'
Professor Westwood added: 'Florence was a great health advocate and I think she would be proud to see two of her scholars taking on a challenge that will help us to stay fit and raise money for future leaders.'
- RELATED INTERACTIVE CONTENT: Florence Nightingale – why the founder of modern nursing is still important
The London marathon is on 26 April.
You can sponsor Ruth May and Greta Westwood here
The nurse who broke a marathon record to show what real nurses look like
One nurse who hit the headlines after running the 2019 London Marathon was scrubs-clad Barts Health NHS Trust senior sister Jessica Anderson. She had been told her world record attempt to be the fastest woman to run a marathon 'dressed as a nurse' would only count if she was wearing a skirt.
Guinness World Records said scrubs were too close to its fancy dress requirements for a doctor’s uniform. Its rules meant a ‘nurse’s uniform’ must include a blue or white dress, a pinafore apron and the nurse’s cap. The latter is widely outmoded in the UK and was only ever worn by nurses who were women.
But amid a wave of support from the profession and the birth of the hashtag #WhatNursesWear, Ms Anderson was awarded the record, in a Guinness World Records U-turn.
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