H.M. Drottningens tal vid Queen Silvia Nursing Awards 10-årsjubileum

Stockholm

(Det talade ordet gäller)

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear winners of the 2022 Queen Silvia Nursing Award,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Stockholm and this conference about “The Power of Nursing”, on the occasion of our special 10th anniversary celebration.

Since long we celebrate International Nurses Day around the world on twelfth of May, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. It has eventually become a week long celebration.

It is wonderful to meet you laureates! You have all made an admirable journey as a nurse, and your unique ideas have contributed to last year’s Queen Silvia Nursing Award competitions in your countries. I am proud of you for your dedication and commitment to enhance quality in older adult- and dementia care in your community.

I would like to thank the partners throughout the Queen Silvia Nursing Award network who have helped recognize not only you, but a long history of winners since 2013.

The elderly, and particularly those living with a dementia disease, need you and your unique perspectives. We need your ideas, your voices, your creativity, your innovations - not least considering the interesting and ongoing discussions regarding therapies and research.

Over the past year, there has been compelling developments to find new treatments and hopefully a cure for dementia illnesses. This is such an important and complex issue. I myself was a caregiver for several years, and therefore I have a personal interest to learn more about the research. New developments, early detection, quality care and risk reduction are areas that can all contribute to improve our chances of living not only longer but also with a higher quality of life.

Dear nurses, you will continue to play a crucial role in these discussions. With new treatments, you are needed more than ever. You will help research and science administer treatments with compassion and skill. You will be the professionals we lean on over and over again for the emotional foundation, sensitivity and guidance that is so important for those affected by dementia.

I thank you, dear friends who are joining us today for playing a role in this dialogue that touches all healthcare systems, all communities, and all families.

Together we can create a society that values dementia practice and dementia research equally. That is why we have gathered here today – to focus our efforts and to bring the worlds of research and practice closer together. If we strengthen our ties we can work to ensure that our loved ones, and eventually we ourselves, get the opportunity to age safely and with dignity.

I am very much looking forward to learning more from your expertise! Thank you, everyone, for joining us today.