Queen's Nursing Institute

The origins of the Queen's Institute lie in the fund raising organised among `the women of England' for an offering to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 1887. After the commission of a set of jewellery, there remained ?70,000, and the Queen chose to use the money to support district nursing; a plan for a district nursing service was sketched out by William Rathbone and Florence Nightingale. The Queen's private secretary, Sir Henry Ponsonby, suggested an order of nursing sisters rewarded by honours and decorations, based at St Katherine's Hospital. (This establishment was a descendant of the medieval hospital chartered by Queen Philippa, wife of Edward III, which was originally near the Tower of London but had moved to Regent's Park following the construction of St. Katherine's Docks; the foundation had declined and it had been proposed that its funds should be redirected to the good of the sick poor.) The Rathbone/ Nightingale scheme was approved in July 1888 and a Provisional Committee set up with the Duke of Westminster as Chairman and Mr Rathbone as Honorary Secretary. The Master of St Katherine's Community, the Reverend Arthur Lewis Babbington Peile, was made President of the Jubilee Institute, and the headquarters was over the Chapter House at St Katherine's in Regent's Park. (The link whereby the Master of St. Katherine's was also the head of the Institute was formally broken in 1904.) It was hoped that funds from St Katherine's would augment those of the Institute. In 1889 Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses (QVJIN) was incorporated by Royal Charter.

The aims of the Institute were to apply the Queen's gift to training nurses in district work in order to supply affiliated nursing associations with thoroughly equipped workers and to put in place a body to supervise the work. The Metropolitan and National Nursing Association, established in 1876, was adopted as the central training home. District Nursing Associations were invited to apply for affiliation to the Institute.

In addition to the Queen's Nurses produced by this training, the Insitute provided less highly trained nurses for basic rural work. The Institute took on this role when in 1891 the Rural Nursing Association (started in the west of England in 1888 by Mrs Elizabeth Malleson) was affiliated to the Institute (in 1897 it merged with the Institute as the Rural District Branch). `Village Nurses' needed only one year's training in hospital work, three months in midwifery and three to six months in district work; a `Village Nurse' could be employed in a district with population not exceeding 3,000 which could not afford a Queen's Nurse, or in a district already employing a Queen's Nurse where it was felt necessary to also have a `Village Nurse' under her direction. A County Superintendent in each Association was responsible to the Institute for superintendence of the `Village Nurses'. District nursing associations employing other than Queen's Nurses could affiliate to a County Nursing Association.

Under the 1911 National Health Insurance Act, negotiations with the Insurance Commissioners established that approved societies might give grants to voluntary bodies for carrying out the purposes mentioned in the Act - societies paid fees to the Institute and made agreements with affiliated nursing associations for the home nursing of insured persons. In 1919 the Ministry of Health was established, its duties including supervision of the administration of the National Health Insurance Scheme by approved societies and local insurance committees. Also in 1919, the Nurses Registration Act set up the General Nursing Council, with responsibility for setting up a register of nurses and for approving training schools.

Other significant developments of the inter-war years were that in 1925 the Institute's Irish Branch became independent; in 1928 the Institute's name was changed to `The Queen's Institute of District Nursing'; and in 1936 a new Midwives Act required provision of midwives for the whole country, with many new Nursing Associations formed to provide both midwifery and nursing services.

Following the Second World War, in 1947 the Institute was approved by the Ministry of Health to give Health Visitor training for the Royal Sanitary Institute certificate. In 1948 the National Health Service was established and provident schemes became redundant. Local health authorities were responsible for the organisation of the district nursing service, either employing nurses directly or using the voluntary organisations. Subsequent negotiations enabled Local Health Authorities providing a direct service to enter into membership of the Queen's Institute. District nursing associations no longer had to pay the nurses' salaries, but continued to play a role in the running of the training homes. The NHS Act made no provision for district nurse training; in 1953 the Report of the Ministry of Health working party on the training of District Nurses (the Armer Report) accepted the need for district nurses to be trained to a national standard, but recommended only 3-4 months training (the Institute representatives dissented from this last point). In 1959, following the Report of the Training Advisory Council set up in 1957 to advise the Minister of Health, a Panel of Assessors set up; the Institute syllabus and examination arrangements were approved and from 1960, all successful candidates were awarded the National Certificate of District Nursing. By 1966 the National Certificate was felt to be sufficiently established for the award of Queen's Certificate and badge to be discontinued after midsummer 1968.

In 1973 the Institute's name was changed again, to `The Queen's Nursing Institute'.

From the guide to the Papers of: Queen's Nursing Institute, 1887-1997, (Wellcome Library)