Dr Ranj celebrates nurses and midwives at Evelina London

Posted on Monday 24th February 2020
Dr Ranj in Evelina London's Beach Ward with one of our patients.

Dr Ranj with Florence

TV presenter Dr Ranj visited our hospital to mark the bicentenary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.

The Strictly Come Dancing star met staff and patients for a special segment on ITV show This Morning to celebrate the pioneering nurse.

This year marks the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale and the World Health Organization has declared it the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife in her honour.

Florence Nightingale set up her first nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in 1860, establishing Guy's and St Thomas', which Evelina London is a part of, as the home of modern nursing.

Dr Ranj spoke to nurses and patients on our kidney dialysis and short stay surgery ward. He also visited a nurse who works for our intensive care transport team, the South Thames Retrieval Service.

Dr Ranj, who trained at our hospital and currently does shift work at Evelina London, said: “It was fantastic to be back at Evelina London to mark the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife for This Morning. Nurses and midwives do an extraordinary job and play a crucial role in all our lives. It was great to see the amazing work nurses at Evelina London are doing to honour Florence Nightingale’s wonderful legacy.”

During the film, Dr Ranj spoke to Florence, eight, from Kent, who was at Evelina London for a cleft operation. Florence said: “I was quite nervous before my operation, so it was such a surprise to get a visit from Dr Ranj and talk to him about why I was in hospital. We spoke about Florence Nightingale and the amazing job nurses do. It was very exciting to be filmed and made what would have been a long morning lots of fun.”

Carmen Barton, matron of Beach Ward, said: “We were delighted to welcome Dr Ranj back to Evelina London to celebrate our brilliant nurses and midwives. They all work incredibly hard every day to give our children and young the very best care both physically and psychologically. We are extremely proud of them and really important to us that what they do day in, day out is recognised, which is why we are celebrating Florence Nightingale’s legacy throughout the year.”

Throughout 2020, Guy's and St Thomas' will be celebrating the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale with events and activities for staff and patients.

To find out more about nursing careers at Guy’s and St Thomas’ visit: guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/careers/nursing