Sarah Elizabeth Wardroper appointment as matron at St Thomas' Hospital in January 1854. Although nursing was still largely a disreputable occupation she made St Thomas' a model of reformed, professional, nursing and in 1860, with the creation of the training school for nurses by the Nightingale Fund at the same hospital, she was appointed superintendent. Florence Nightingale selected St Thomas' Hospital as the site for her new nurse training school, largely because of Wardroper's qualities (and those of the enlightened resident medical officer, R.G. Whitfield). Nightingale, Wardroper and Whitfield worked together to establish the new school, the first secular training school for nurses
Florence Nightingale Foundation concerns with a panel of senior nurses and engage in professional debate; a tour of the Florence Nightingale Museum; a visit to the Florence Nightingale Chapel in Westminster Abbey, and attendance at the Annual Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service. The Florence Nightingale Foundation Presentation of Certificates is held biannually and acts as a graduation ceremony for completed scholars. The event is an opportunity to celebrate the impact scholars' work has had on patient care and services. In 2014 the Foundation’s patron Sir Robert Francis was the key note speaker and described Florence Nightingale scholars as the ‘future leaders of the profession’.