The Prince Charles Hospital Nursing Staff Excellence Awards

Chair, Metro North Board, Mr Jim McGowan AM; Executive Director and Chief of Nursing and Midwifery in Metro North, Ms Alanna Geary, Executive Director of Prince Charles, Ms Tami Photinos, Director of Nursing, Ms Cherie Franks, Distinguished Guests. It is wonderful to see so many familiar faces.

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which we gather, and pay my respects to Elders, past, present and emerging.

Thank you so much for inviting me to this celebration of Nursing Excellence and I look forward to presenting the Outstanding Collegial Support Award. It is, of course, most fitting that this award celebration be held on International Nurses Day! May I congratulate all of the five awardees and thank you for your service to The Prince Charles Hospital, Metro North Health and the people of Queensland.

My gratitude extends to all nurses and nursing staff at The Prince Charles and across Queensland; your dedication to service, perseverance and hard work is immensely appreciated and does not go unnoticed.

Choosing the recipients of these awards for excellence among the nursing staff must have been a daunting task indeed. For if anything has characterised the profession, especially in these last two and half years, it has been excellence, and much more – professionalism, commitment, dedication and unrelenting hard work.

It is no accident that the nursing profession has always ranked as one of the most respected professions in Australia. Indeed, in a Ray Morgan, Image of Professions Survey taken across Australia in 2021, nurses ranked at the very top with an 88% public approval rating for ethics and honesty – Doctors came in second at 82%...I’m just saying!

While I have visited many hospitals, and will continue to do so, this is my first official event at a hospital since I was appointed as the 27^th Governor of Queensland and I am really pleased that it is for an occasion such as this. I say with some humility, that I have witnessed first hand what nurses and nursing staff, ‘really do’, and I extend my deepest gratitude for your hard work and dedication.

I am well aware of the work you do, and I am grateful for how you have worked to deliver care wherever you are in the State.

The challenges you face day-upon-day require a highly specialised skill-set and a rare dedication; clearly the people of this State are all too aware of that.

As Governor of Queensland I say on behalf of all of us, thank you for that professionalism and for your unflagging diligence.