To mark International Nurses Day 2025 on 12th May this blog written by our Editor-in-Chief, Dr Alison Twycross (@alitwy) reflects on how caring for nurses strengthens economies. All five EBN commentaries referred to in this blog are currently free to access by clicking here. Healthcare systems rely on nurses, not just to provide care, but […]
Category: Workforce issues
Growing the nursing workforce in the United Kingdom: Aspiration and reality
Introduction This week’s blog is by Rebecca Garcia and Irtiza Qureshi. The nursing workforce in the United Kingdom (UK) has been under capacity for a long time [1]. According to the latest published figures from NHS Digital (2024) [2], there are currently 34,709 qualified nursing vacancies in England. Worryingly, UCAS figures for 2024 demonstrate a […]
Clinical supervision for the nursing and midwifery workforce in Scotland: Getting ready for a ‘once for Scotland’ approach
In this week’s blog, Christine Strange discusses NHS Scotland’s approach to ensuring all nurses and midwives can access high-quality clinical supervision. Participating in clinical supervision is fundamental to supporting me to develop within my role. In Scotland it is a national ambition that every nurse and midwife should have access to clinical supervision whatever […]
Nurses need nurses for their resilience and wellbeing
This week’s blog is written by Dr Judith Benbow, Senior Lecturer, Cardiff University, Professor Danny Kelly, Royal College of Nursing Chair of Nursing Research, Cardiff University and Professor Aled Jones, University of Plymouth. Nurses seek help from other nurses as their primary coping strategy. Notwithstanding patients’ needs for more nurses, crucially nurses need more nurses […]
Why are Nurses at Particular Risk of Chronic Exhaustion?
This week’s blog comes from Alison McGrath, a nurse now working as an independent wellbeing coach, and explores whether nurses may be at risk of chronic exhaustion. Why do nurses smoke? Because the doctors have eaten all the chocolate. So went the joke when I was a student nurse in the early 1990s. We all […]
The rise and rise of the nursing apprentices.
This blog comes from Alwin Puthenpurakal, an experienced senior lecturer and researcher working at The University of Greenwich. He led University apprenticeship programmes since its inception and highly values the impact it has on widening social mobility and addressing the national workforce challenges. With almost two decades worth of clinical experience, he is an experienced […]
Our Nurses, Our Future: No more rhetoric, it’s time for action
This week’s blog is written by our Editor-in-Chief, Dr Alison Twycross (@alitwy), Honorary Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Birmingham (@UniBham_Nursing). The focus of International Nurses Day 2023 is Our Nurses, Our Future. At a time when the nursing workforce is under more pressure than ever before Evidence Based Nursing (EBN) are […]
GloSTaRs – Supporting early career professionals to thrive, not just survive.
This week’s blog comes from Charlotte Jakab-Hall, Senior Practice Development Nurse and Peer Support Guardian and Leonora King, Practice Development Nurse and Peer Support Guardian at Gloucester Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Blog summary Gloucestershire Staff Transition and Retention Support Network (GloSTaRs) was co-created by two early career nurses following their preceptorship programme in […]
Nurses working in academic settings play an important role in preparing students for their first role as a registered nurse
By Dr Jane Wray, Senior Lecturer in Nursing, and Senior Clinical Nurse Advisor (National Preceptorship Programme) @livinginhope and Desiree Cox, Programme Lead, National Preceptorship Programme, @desireecox07 The launch of the National Preceptorship Framework for Nursing in England1 in October 2022 provides important information for students and nurses preparing the future nursing workforce. The new framework […]
The power of nurses to impact policy: An imperative
Professor Julia Downing Chief Executive International Children’s Palliative Care Network and Chair of the Policy and Advocacy Committee for the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care. As nurses, we are catalysts for change, and as the largest profession within the health service (1) we should have a strong voice, we are trusted bridge builders, […]