Chief Nurse Ruth May meets future workforce

The visit coincided with World Mental Health Day, and Ruth used the opportunity to talk about the importance of mental health awareness in the workplace, a cause she is keen to champion.
 
Ruth said: “Mental health awareness is so important. The nursing workforce is an absolute priority for me: we need to recruit and retain more nurses, and a key part of that is making sure we take care of them. Our nurses spend so much of their time looking after others, we need to make sure we have strong wellbeing strategies so that they are looked after too.”
 
As one of the biggest providers of undergraduate nursing courses in the North West, the University of Salford is playing a key role in developing the workforce of the future. A number of students attended the session and were keen to put questions to Ruth on a variety of topics. 
 
Ruth said, ‘It was fantastic to meet some of our future nurses today and particularly good to hear from some of the learning disability nursing students, as this is an area we very much need to recruit to.  We heard great enthusiasm and ideas and I look forward to following up on some of these in the  future.”
 
Ruth was accompanied by Hilary Garratt, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer for England, who said: “It’s always fantastic to visit Greater Manchester as the collaboration and partnership working we see here is great! The University of Salford models collaboration, ensuring it plays a full part in the local health and care economy. Students here have great opportunities; multidisciplinary learning with a wide variety of clinical placements provide an excellent learning environment.”