INMO sends best wishes to all nurses on International Nurses Day

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) sends best wishes to all its members, and nurses all over the world, on International Nurses Day today, May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.

The theme chosen by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) for this year is ‘Nurses: A Force for Change – Improving health systems’ resilience’, which reflects the ICN’s commitment for action to strengthen and improve health systems around the world.

It leverages the contribution that nurses can make and acknowledges that nurses are closest to those requiring health services and therefore have a significant influence on reducing health costs and increasing quality of care.

The ICN, of which the INMO has been a member since 1925, is a federation of more than 130 national nursing associations representing more than 16 million nurses worldwide.

INMO deputy general secretary, Dave Hughes, said:

“The theme for International Nurses Day underpins the simple, but vital, message that nurses play a central role in the provision of healthcare and have an important task in improving health system’s resilience.

“For this to happen, governments must understand that a high quality health service cannot be achieved without an adequate number of appropriately educated, empowered and autonomous nurses.

“The nurse is, without doubt, the health professional closest to the population they serve and therefore must be centrally involved in making decisions for strengthening health services.

“At our Annual Delegate Conference last week, members called for a universal healthcare service, funded by progressive taxation, which is efficient, effective and which treats everyone equally, with access being determined by need and not ability to pay.

“In this regard, we look forward to meeting with the minister for health to discuss, along with other stakeholders, the development of a 10 year plan for the health service.”