Queen’s Nurses recognised in King’s New Year Honours
6 January 2025
Community children’s matron, chair of the UK Community Children’s Nursing Network and Children’s Community Nursing Project Lead at the Queen’s Nursing Institute, Rebecca Daniels has been recognised in HM The King’s New Year Honours List.
Rebecca has been awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to clinically vulnerable and complex children and young people. A BEM is awarded to individuals who have provided exceptional service to their community or country.
A qualified paediatric nurse, Rebecca has been working with clinical complex and vulnerable children and young people in Newham’s community children’s nursing (CCN) service since 2006 and has led the service as Community Children’s Matron since 2016. She is passionate about ensuring babies, children and young people with health needs can remain at home and integrated into their community alongside their peers, with the right community nursing support in place.
Rebecca became a Queen’s Nurse in 2020 and, during the pandemic, co-founded the UK-wide online CCN forum which supports CCNs across the UK to develop guidance, share knowledge and unite experiences. Rebecca is chair of the network, which together lobbies for change and advocates for the needs of most vulnerable and complex children and young people.
In 2022, Rebecca became the Queen’s Nursing Institute’s CCN project lead in 2022, a role that aligns with her passion for teaching, leadership and quality improvement. Rebecca leads on field specific standards for the children’s community nursing specialist practice qualification and unites CCNs via the CCN network.
It's an absolute honour to be awarded a BEM. When I left hospital nursing in 2006, I was ready to leave nursing completely. However, I joined the Newham Community Children's nursing team, and it completely changed my career.
I found the most amazing job, working with incredible children, young people and their families along their health journey from birth to adulthood, as well as supporting families in palliative and end of life care. The complexity of need continues to evolve, and our children and young people require support to enable them to remain in the community, with their families and in schools with their peers.
Chairing the national Community Children's Nursing (CCN) Network is a privilege. The role of a CCN is often hidden. However, with our network, we can raise its profile and ensure children and young people can continue to be cared for in community settings with the best outcomes.
Rebecca Daniels, BEM, QNRebecca joins more than 20 nurses and midwives that have been recognised for their outstanding contribution to their professions and the wider healthcare sector in the 2025 New Year Honours List. This includes former chief nursing officer (CNO) for Scotland, Professor Alex McMahon, who was awarded a CBE, and director, nursing and systems improvement and deputy chief executive, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Ann Gow, who was awarded an OBE, for services to nursing in Scotland.
Sickle cell community matron and Queen’s Nurse, Matilda Asante-Owusu of the Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Centre, Whittington Health NHS Trust, and Jennifer Caguioa, lately international recruitment and ethnic minorities nurse advisor for NHS England, were both awarded an MBE for services to nursing.
The QNI sends a huge congratulations to all the incredible health and social care professionals who have been recognised in this year’s Honours.
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