Cornwall Council Nurse Awarded Queen’s Nurse Title

Cornwall Council nurse recognised for decades of dedication

A public health nurse from Truro has been awarded the prestigious title of Queen’s Nurse after more than 40 years of service in children’s community health.

Sue Adams, who has worked in the profession for 42 years, discovered the news while with her 93-year-old dad. The pair joked that she had come a long way from dressing up as a nurse and tucking in her teddies as a child.

Sue is one of 587 nurses across the country working in community specialisms to receive the title this year. These roles include school nurses, health visitors, public health nurses and community mental health nurses.

She is the second Cornwall Council employee to become a Queen’s Nurse, following in the footsteps of Jodie Pethick, head of the Best Start, Community Health and Wellbeing Service.

📷Sue graduation

“I always wanted to be a nurse”

“I always wanted to be a nurse,” said Sue. “I had a nurse’s costume and I remember tucking my teddies and dollies into bed and taking their temperatures when I was little. I think it was in my blood and my mum always encouraged me too.

“I was with my dad when I received the email saying I’d been awarded the title of Queen’s Nurse. He was dead chuffed for me, really proud, and he said my mum would have been over the moon.”

She added: “I feel very happy about it. I’ve been doing this job for so long, it’s nice to get recognition like this and know I’ve hit that standard they’re looking for.”

📷Sue midwife

A title steeped in history

The Queen’s Nurse title is awarded by the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing (QICN), thought to be the oldest nursing charity in the world. Founded in the time of Queen Victoria, it was set up to organise the training of district nurses.

On top of her years of service as a nurse, midwife, health visitor, school nurse and child safeguarding lead, the QICN praised Sue for her key role in setting up Cornwall’s Early Help Hub.

Launched in 2015, the hub was the first of its kind in the country, creating a single point of access and triage for all children’s community health services by linking up council-run, NHS and other organisations.

📷Sue Adams

Sharing Cornwall’s expertise nationwide

Now the health lead at the MARU (multi-agency referral unit for child safeguarding), Sue said: “You have to demonstrate that you work at an outstanding level, that you are compassionate and you can act as a role model for others. You have to be committed to delivering great care and be able to contribute to the Queen’s Nurse network.

“I feel I have a huge amount of learning to share from what we’ve achieved in Cornwall as we’re doing some great stuff here. We’re really quite far ahead and I’m immensely proud of the work we do here.

“I don’t want this title to be about me. We all stand on the shoulders of other amazing people we work with and it’s about them too.”

📷Sue and dolly

Council praises national recognition

Cllr Hilary Frank, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Schools at Cornwall Council, said:

“Sue’s recognition as a Queen’s Nurse is personal and collective. It honours her dedication, and it shines a light on Cornwall’s trailblazing approach to early intervention. The Early Help Hub Sue helped create stands as proof that when support comes early, families can thrive.

“My warmest congratulations go to Sue on this well-deserved honour. Together with Jodie Pethick, Cornwall is fortunate to have two Queen’s Nurses whose work continues to inspire and lead the way.”

📷Sue Adams and colleagues