Guinness World Records has confirmed that the Queen’s Nursing Institute is the world’s oldest nursing charity.
The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) was established 132 years ago and is a community nursing charity that aims to support nurses through a national network. The charity provides a variety of services including funding nurse’s plans to improve patient care, publishing research on nursing practice and education, and campaigning for investment into nursing services.
‘The first school of QNI nursing opened in 1863 in Liverpool and we’re still here today, as a charity, supporting the same mission for best care in the community,’ said Dr Crystal Oldman, Chief Executive of QNI. ‘132 years ago, William Rathbone and Florence Nightingale determined that nurses who worked in homes and communities require specialist education and training to do their work; to work autonomously and to manage the risk for both themselves as Queen’s nurses and the communities that they served’.
The application to Guinness World Records took nine months but the charity has now received its certificate confirming its status as the oldest nursing charity in the world.