A year ago I remember writing my Christmas message at a time when vaccines had just been developed and approved and we were looking forward with so much hope to the new year of 2021.

Challenging times followed however for society as a whole and for you, our registrants, as the pandemic continued.

In the past 12 months nurses and midwives were on the frontline of the vaccination programme, with four million people vaccinated and another 1.5 million booster jabs delivered as they stepped up to lead the national effort in nursing homes, in hospitals, at vaccination centres and in our general practice settings.

Our registrants are there again when the country needs them now through the current booster campaign and you will be there again for patients in all health settings in 2022.

I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our registrants for your admirable efforts throughout 2021.

I also want to acknowledge the dedication of my NMBI colleagues throughout the past 12 months as we faced new challenges. We are implementing the annual renewal process for the second year running online.

Efforts continued throughout the year to add new registrants from Ireland, from the EU and from outside the EU. That work will continue apace in 2022 as we expand our registration team and add new members of staff to meet ever greater demand. Over the past three years, the number of new registrants has increased by more than 7,500. We now have more than 82,000 nurses and midwives on the Register.

Throughout the year the NMBI teams continued to focus on protecting the public and the nursing and midwifery professions and were agile and adaptive to ensure business as usual.

The next year will bring more challenges for healthcare professionals but I have no doubt they will rise to meet those challenges which can provide opportunities to change how we work, finding better ways to do things which benefit registrants and those they care for.

Once again I want to acknowledge the compassion and care our registrants have shown throughout the past 12 months.

We must now look forward to 2022 with renewed hope and I want to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a safe and peaceful New Year.