Nurses across the island marked the annual worldwide Nurses’ Day on Monday, celebrating the profession on the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.
Health officials gathered at Noble’s Hospital’s training centre, Keyll Darree, to mark the occasion with the signing of a nursing and midwifery declaration titled Working With our Head, Hands and Heart.
Members of the Nursing and Midwifery Advisory Council (NMAC), which represents the island’s nurses and midwives, were on hand to pledge continued ‘compassion, kindness and pride’, and make a commitment to the standards the profession sets itself.
Dudley Butt MLC, member for Health Services, said: ‘It’s easy to sometimes forget how wide the nursing and midwifery profession stretches across our community.
‘This goes beyond Noble’s Hospital and includes district nurses, practice nurses, school nurses, prison nurses, mental health nurses, hospice nurses and nurses in care homes and elderly and mentally infirm units.’
Cath Quilliam, director of community nursing, said she would be visiting nurses throughout the week to celebrate with thank you cards, and along with health minister David Anderson MHK added her thanks to the nursing community.