International Nurses Day: Portsmouth nurses thank colleagues for their dedication

Today marks the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale and it is also the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

A schedule of events was planned in Portsmouth to celebrate the occasion but due to Covid-19, those events can’t go ahead and instead nurses and midwives are showing why there is a day dedicated to them.

Chief nurse at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Liz Rix said: ‘We had a huge amount planned for this year which is also International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

‘We have had to put it all on hold for obvious reasons but I think celebrating today is even more important because of all that you have done as nurses and midwives to get us over the last few months. The way that you have been flexible, the way you have retrained, the way that you have cared for patients both with the virus and without the virus has been absolutely exceptional.

‘We have shown what nurses and midwives do and what they do best.

‘We have shown what our profession can do and that we always keep our patient at the heart of what we do but also we have looked after each other and we will continue to look after each other.’

Kate Pye has been qualified for 27 years as a children’s nurse and has worked as one of the deputy chief nurses at PHT for the last nine months.

She said: ‘I have been absolutely blown away in regards to the level of can-do attitude and the level of volunteering that people have put themselves up for to go way out of their comfort zone.

‘I think that the current situation we are experiencing makes today all the more poignant and special for all of us.’

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has celebrated International Nurses Day since 1965.

In January 1974, May 12 was chosen as the date to celebrate the occasion since it is the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

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