In 1859, Liverpool merchant and philanthropist William Rathbone employed a nurse named Mary Robinson to care for his wife at home during her final illness.

After his wife's death, Rathbone decided to employ Robinson to nurse people in their own homes who could not afford medical care.

Malleson's scheme was not the first but she decided to form a national organisation and her appeal for help brought her into contact with Lady Lucy Hicks-Beech.

She was the wife of Michael Hicks Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn, and they gathered enough support to launch a Rural Nursing Association.

By the end of the 19th century, with the approval of Queen Victoria, the movement became a national voluntary organisation responsible for setting standards and training nurses.

A number of the early superintendents and inspectors of the Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses trained at The London Hospital under Eva Luckes.

The modern Queen's Nurse title is not a qualification, but it is awarded following a rigorous anonymous assessment process, requiring applicants to submit details of their professional career, essays in reflective practice, and references from patients, managers and colleagues.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the QNI launched TalkToUs, a confidential listening service for community nurses to be able to speak to someone about work or personal challenges.

The QNI also has a programme called Keep in Touch, that puts working and retired Queen's Nurses together for regular phone contact.

[22] This initiative established a national network of homeless health professionals, offering training events, specialist publications and other support.

To do so, The QNI contributes to stakeholder meetings, responds to national consultations, takes up issues raised by local projects where it appears they may have wider significance, and provides examples and information to policy-makers.

[25] In it, the QNI shared a vision of a future when “many more people are treated at home, technology is exploited to the full to help deliver care and maintain independence, and the relationship between the individual, their family or carers and the nurse is key to building the trust and confidence people need to remain at home as long as possible”.

The prize is named in memory of a young man who died while raising funds for the charity, on an expedition to cross the Greenland ice sheet.

As part of this process it re-emphasized its mission to focus on protecting and improving the standards of nursing care at home.