William Rathbone X Award for Executive Nurse Leadership

The William Rathbone X Annual Award for Excellence in the Executive Nurse Leadership of Community Nursing Services.

William Rathbone X served as a Council member of the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing from 1974 until his death in 2022. He had a lifelong commitment to nursing in the community, and this Award is named after him.

This Award gives recognition of the impact of strategic nursing leadership, including support for colleagues and positive outcomes for patients.

Eligibility

Nurses working for not-for-profit providers of NHS-funded community health services including: integrated community and Mental Health trusts, integrated hospital and community trusts, local government and social care in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are eligible for nomination. Nurses in commissioning organisations, integrated care boards, central government, or single unit healthcare providers such as individual nursing homes or hospices, are not eligible. If you have a query about eligibility, please contact us at mail@qicn.org.uk .

Nominations

Nomination criteria include:

• Evidence of the nominee’s contribution to the national agenda for community nursing or the wider healthcare at home sector
• Achievements of the nominee in the delivery of excellent nursing services in the organisation
• Evidence of these achievements, such as:
  – CQC (or equivalent) ratings
  – figures from employee feedback programmes
  – group work or networks your nominee is actively participating in
  – examples of influencing policy, practice or service delivery.

How to nominate

Nominations will open on Monday 2 February 2026.

The nomination form must be completed by the line manager of the nominee, normally the Chief Executive or equivalent of the organisation where the nominee is employed.

Where another person is making the nomination, the Chief Executive must sign a statement to say that they support the nomination as completed by the nominator.

To avoid potential disappointment, nominees should NOT be informed that their name has been submitted for this award.

Nominations will be assessed by a panel of QICN Trustees, QICN Fellows, and a previous award winner.

The winner will be announced at the 2026 William Rathbone X Annual Lecture and Award Presentation in London on Thursday 14 May 2026.

William Rathbone X (1936-2022)

William Rathbone X – the X denoting that he was the tenth member of his family to bear the name – was a great-great-grandson of the founder of the QICN, William Rathbone VI.  Mr Rathbone was a member of the Council of the QICN from 1974 until his death on 31 December 2022 and was Vice-Chair of Council for 24 years. In 2009 he was awarded the Gold Badge of the QICN and in 2012 he was made an OBE for his charitable services. During his career he was also chief executive of the charity RUKBA, and involved with nine charities as a trustee or advisor. Read more about William Rathbone VI and the history of district nursing on our sister site, QICN Heritage.

Thank you

The Award is funded by a generous donation from Lucy and Nick Addyman, Mr Rathbone’s daughter and son-in-law (also a QICN Trustee).