Valuing you

Published: 03 November 2010

RCN President Andrea Spyropoulos explains her passionate commitment to working for you

What does the RCN President do?

The president is a member of the RCN who is elected by other members to represent them and the nursing profession both nationally and internationally. Earlier this year members were sent voting papers to choose who they wanted to be President, and they elected me. I took up the position a few weeks ago. Over the next two years I will speak up for nursing staff and do my best to protect your interests. I’m not employed by the RCN but you could say I’m a figurehead of the organisation. I am a nurse and still do clinical hours.

What did you do before this point?

What I haven’t done is a better question! I started off working in the NHS as a cadet nurse in Liverpool when I was 17 and since then have done everything from working in occupational health on cruise liners, to being a sister on a surgical ward, to working in nuclear medicine to teaching nursing staff about health care law. Now I work for a private company advising on the best way to build hospitals with nursing staff in mind. My passion for patient care has never waned though. Even when I was working full time in education, I got a Saturday job in a G grade gynae post to keep up my clinical hours.

Why should HCAs and APs be members of the RCN?

The RCN is the largest professional union for nursing in the world. It has specialist staff (many of whom are former members of the nursing family themselves) who understand your needs and can help you with any issue or problem you may have. You can access all the events, learning resources and career advice on offer and get involved with consultations which shape the future of health care.

I’m absolutely committed to making our HCA and AP members feel valued within the nursing team and the RCN. I can’t stress how important I feel your role is to the profession. Without your hard work and commitment many nursing services could simply not operate.

What qualities will you bring to the role?

The first thing I would say is that no matter what I’ve done in my career I can’t forget my roots. I’ve got nursing in my heart. I can’t think I don’t have to do that now, or it doesn’t affect me, or it’s not that important.

Nursing has always been good to me and I’ve always tried my best to deliver for the profession. This role is my opportunity to make a difference and I’m passionate about fighting for your rights and making sure you feel valued. I’ll speak up when it’s needed and fight tooth and nail for you to get the benefits you deserve. Patients are very important, but its nursing staff who deliver care to those patients. You have to get things right for nursing staff because if you don’t, there isn’t any care, it doesn’t exist.