International Nurse’s Day 2022: Investing in nursing and respecting nurses’ rights – a reflection from Julie Gray, Chief Nurse of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust

Posted 12th May 2022

The theme of this year’s International Nurse’s Day (12 May 2022) is to, “Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health” - highlighting the need to protect, support and invest in the nursing profession in order to strengthen health systems around the world.

This is our opportunity to showcase the incredible range of companionate, expert and innovative work nurses do every day. From birth to death and all the stages in between; in people’s homes, in communities and in hospitals, nurses provide person-centred, holistic care for all.

As a nurse of over 30 years I have experienced an evolution in the nursing profession, in the development of new roles, new skills and in the public perception of what it means to be a nurse.

Several of the roles I have undertaken during my career didn’t exist when I started student nurse training back in 1990 (many of the nurses reading this weren’t even born in 1990!)

From nursing associate to nurse consultant, so much has changed. But this change and these new roles all required investment - financially, professionally, personally and emotionally. The profession has evolved because brave, innovative nurse leaders worked tirelessly to have a voice and be heard; for investment and for continuous improvement in the care being delivered to people in need every day.They used their passion, knowledge, expertise, evidence, data and their unique position to advocate on behalf of those in need and today we celebrate them.

Here at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, we are committed to investing in our nursing workforce so they can deliver the highest standard of care and best clinical outcomes to our patients.

We are fortunate to have a committed and ambitious nursing workforce such as Stephanie Blair who was our first Registered Nursing Associate (see a message from Steph here) and Trudy Guinan one of our Nurse Consultants (her message can be seen here), plus staff nurses, sisters, nurse specialists, health care support workers, advanced nurse practitioners, non-medical prescribers, matrons, nurse directors…the list goes on. No matter what the role, each and every nurse makes a contribution to the lives of the people within our care. They invest in our patients, in each other and in themselves to be the best; enabling and inspiring others to consistently provide high quality care

The theme for IND 2022 demonstrates the need to invest in nursing, to build a resilient, highly qualified nursing workforce and to protect nurses’ rights in order to transform health systems and meet the needs of individuals and communities now and into the future.

I am immensely proud to have been welcomed into the Clatterbridge nursing community and I am proud to be a Clatterbridge Nurse. I hope that we can work together over the coming months and years to collectively invest in the continued evolution of the nursing profession here at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

So, on this International Nurse’s Day, I would like to say thank you – thank you to everyone who invests in nursing, thank you to those who have invested in me and thank you to all our nursing teams who are invested in the care they provide.