University Hospital Waterford celebrates WIT General Nursing Class of 2018

University Hospital Waterford hosted a celebration ceremony for the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) general nursing class of 2018 last week.

To mark the end of their training and placements in the various hospitals and healthcare facilities across the HSE South East area, the hospital held its 12th annual General Nursing Student Celebration Ceremony. This included a certificate presentation to each of WIT’s 40 general nursing students.

The ecumenical service, which has been celebrated for more than 37 years, was held in the Hospital Chapel and included a blessing of hands by members of the clergy present. The service was attended by parents and friends of those being celebrated, with assistant national director of human resources for the South West Hospital Group, Tess O'Donovan, addressing the gathering.

Ellen Morrissey with her family.

Interim director of nursing at University Hospital Waterford, Orla Kavanagh, said: “University Hospital Waterford is delighted to host this celebration ceremony for WIT’s nursing students. The ceremony has had a long tradition of being held here in the hospital church, in what is a very special and memorable occasion for the newly qualified nurses, their families, friends and those that supported them throughout their four year degree training programme. We would like to extend our congratulations to this group of newly qualified nurses and wish them well for their future careers.”

All the WIT general nursing graduates have undertaken four years of training and for nine months were on placement across hospitals in the South East including University Hospital Waterford, St. Patrick’s Hospital, South Tipperary General Hospital, Wexford General Hospital, Kilcreene Orthopaedic Hospital, Whitfield Clinic, Aut Even Hospital and St. Luke’s General Hospital in Kilkenny.

Staff nurse in the Coronary Care Unit at University Hospital Waterford Maura Murray with her daughter and graduate nurse Rebecca Murphy.