This month, we celebrated International Day of the Midwife and International Nurses Day.

To mark the occasions, our Director Education, Policy and Standards, Carolyn Donohoe and our former Director of Midwifery, Dawn Johnston paid tribute to the valuable work our registered nurses and registered midwives do.

The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) selected ‘Together Again: From Evidence to Reality’ as the theme for this year’s International Day of the Midwife celebration.

In a message to midwives, our former Director of Midwifery, Dawn Johnston, reflected on the achievements and challenges midwives have faced over the past year as they continue to work in partnership with women.

She said: “Midwives work with women at a significant time in their lives. Please don’t forget that the birth of a child is a cherished and a long-lasting memory. As midwives, you are always remembered for the significant impact you make to that experience.

“Today allows us all the opportunity to shine a light on the amazing work you and your colleagues do and for the passion, commitment and compassion you show in delivering care to women, their families and their babies.”

This theme of this years’ International Nurses Day was ‘Our Nurses. Our Future.’ It offered a chance to be forward-focused and look towards progressing the profession of nursing.

In her message to fellow nurses, Carolyn thanked our registrants for the invaluable service they provide to service users, patients, clients and residents whether they work in acute or community care settings, in management, policy, research or education.

She said: “Over the past year we finally emerged from the global Covid-19 pandemic and I would like to sincerely acknowledge the hardship experienced by everyone throughout this difficult period. I would also like to express my admiration for the resilience and dedication with which our profession continued to offer the highest standards of care, compassion and commitment”. 

Carolyn also paid tribute to the work of her colleagues in NMBI and said, “I work with a wonderful team in NMBI where we strive to improve education, policy and standards for nursing in Ireland. I am privileged to be in a position to help shape our profession for the future and to help deliver even better outcomes for people in need of healthcare, while maintaining the core of what we do.”