Q&A with Steph Lawrence MBE

Steph Lawrence MBE, Chief Executive Officer at the Queen’s Nursing Institute, will have the honour of presenting the Clinical Support Worker of the Year Award category at Skills for Health’s Our Health Heroes on 17 June.

Ahead of the big day we spoke to Steph about her career in community nursing and why it’s important to celebrate and champion the achievements of the wider healthcare workforce.

1. Steph, as Chief Executive Officer of the Queen’s Nursing Institute, tell us a bit about your role and the work of the charity.

My role is very varied, and no two days are the same! We are the oldest nursing charity in the world, and we support nurses working across all parts of the community. We have a Queen’s Nurse network and the to gain the title of Queen’s Nurse there is a self-application process – this will open again during June 2026. We also have other networks supporting different fields of practice for community nursing including adult social care nursing, learning disability nursing and mental health.

2. Having worked in nursing for more than 30 years, what is it about nursing in the community that interests you the most?

Working in the community enables me to use all of my nursing skills and also gives me the absolute privilege of caring for someone in their own home. It is a complex area to work in and the risk that is managed in community settings is huge, but it is highly rewarding.

3. Your career in nursing has many standout achievements, from advising the CQC and developing the district nurse apprenticeship to being named MBE in the Queen’s Jubilee honours. Looking back on your career, what are you most proud of?

I am so lucky to have had an amazing career as a nurse, and you have mentioned many things that I am incredibly proud of. However, I think for me the standout achievement of my career was successfully guiding my organisation and the clinical workforce through the Covid-19 pandemic. As the Chief Nurse of a community trust at the time including responsibility for primary care nursing it was a huge responsibility, but thanks to the amazing teams and nurses I worked with across all sectors we successfully navigated it.

4. Our Health Heroes celebrates the wider health workforce – not just clinicians, but those who support, enable and sustain care. Why do you think it is important to celebrate the contribution that these individuals and teams make?

Clinicians can only do their job well when they work in a supportive multi-disciplinary team, including support staff, administrative staff and other back-office staff who ensure everything is in place for clinicians to undertake their role.

5. Thinking about community nursing specifically, can you share an example of how the non-clinical support workforce supports the delivery of patient-centred care?

Every day as a community nurse I was completely reliant on my admin colleagues back in the office. A clear example of this would be arriving a patient’s home to administer insulin to find a new key safe had been fitted and my laptop had no internet connection due to the area I was working in. A quick call back to the office and my brilliant colleague had looked up the key safe code to enable me to get the key to safely enter the patient’s home.

6. Finally, what’s your message to all of our amazing finalists?

Keep being incredible and doing the fabulous job that you all do. You make a difference to patients each and every day. Thank you.

Supported by NHS England, NHS Employers, NHS Shared Business Services, NHS Race & Health Observatory, SFJ Awards, Healthcare Management and iCQ Awards, Skills for Health’s Our Health Heroes recognises and honours the hard work carried out daily by thousands of staff across the UK.