• Senior Specialist Nurse selected as the first Florence Nightingale Fellow from Bolton
• Tobacco dependency treatment service will benefit from nationwide expertise
• Stop smoking advice is available on the Make Smoking History website

A senior specialist nurse at the Royal Bolton Hospital has been accepted as the first nurse from Bolton to join the Florence Nightingale Fellowship.

The Florence Nightingale Foundation offer the prestigious fellowships as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop nursing or midwifery careers, whilst also improving clinical and health outcomes.

As this is the first year that the trust have joined the foundation, Chief Nurse, Tyrone Roberts grasped the annual opportunity to nominate a member of staff to join the fellowship programme. Anna Muscolino was selected due to her commitment to making a positive impact in the community.

Anna works on Bolton’s CURE team, who work to try and support patients away from smoking and nicotine addiction.

Tyrone said:

We are extremely proud of Anna, our very first Florence Nightingale Foundation Fellow. The CURE team are an incredible team of specialist nurses offering a tobacco dependency treatment service, helping patients to go smoke free.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to build on our service, using the expertise and guidance from the Florence Nightingale Foundation and is a key part of supporting our nursing colleagues with their ongoing professional development.

“I selected Anna for several reasons, not least the impactful role specialist nurses have, with a wealth of knowledge, they interact with patients and colleagues across many areas. Their ability therefore to also champion and influence the highest standards of fundamental care (outside of their specialist role too) is significant.

“Anna’s nomination illustrated all of the above, alongside ongoing work to drive down our smoking rates. Smoking is the single largest preventable cause of death in England including in Bolton, as up to two in three smokers will die as a result of long-term smoking.

“I’m very excited for Anna and can’t wait to hear how the fellowship progresses.

The CURE Project is supported by the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership, as part of a whole system approach, which aims to Make Smoking History by reducing smoking rates in Greater Manchester.

Anna said:

I am delighted and feel very privileged to be selected as the first Nurse from the Royal Bolton Hospital to join the Florence Nightingale Fellowship programme. I’m eager to start the course which will open up new opportunities to work on my personal development and also enhance my leadership skills.

“I am looking forward to networking with other fellows and sharing knowledge and experiences, enabling me to improve my ability to lead and influence positive changes at Bolton.

For access to the latest stop smoking advice, apps and services, visit makesmokinghistory.co.uk, speak to your GP or pharmacist, or call the NHS Stop Smoking helpline free on 0300 123 1044.

For more information on stopping smoking before going into hospital, please visit the Make Smoking History website.