‘HAPPY International Nurses’ Day!’ declared the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) on Monday, 12th May.
The RCN said: ‘Today, we’re celebrating the incredible skill, dedication and impact of nursing.
‘Watch our new video and join us in calling for all nursing staff to receive the recognition they deserve.
‘Nursing is not a “calling” or a “vocation”.
‘It’s a highly skilled and safety-critical profession, requiring remarkable dedication, professionalism and expertise.
‘Nursing staff work in a vast variety of settings – from GP surgeries and hospitals, to care homes and prisons.
‘But no matter where you are, the public trust you in their times of need.
‘They turn to you not only for your care and compassion, but for your knowledge, your training and your skills.
‘Yet despite your invaluable work, the nursing profession is facing huge challenges.
‘That’s why it’s more important than ever to recognise the incredible skill, dedication and impact of nursing.
‘Join us today, as we celebrate #NursesDay and call for every member of nursing staff to receive the recognition you deserve.’
International Nurses Day (IND) is celebrated around the world every May 12th, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) commemorates this important day each year with the production and distribution of the International Nurses’ Day resources and evidence.
The ICN report Our Nurses. Our Future, executive summary headlined:
‘UNMET NEEDS AND UNACKNOWLEDGED STRUGGLES: CURRENT WORKFORCE
CHALLENGES
‘The global nursing workforce is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis, one that has profound implications for public health systems, economies, and the future of health care.
‘Nurses, essential to health care delivery, are increasingly facing insurmountable challenges that undermines their wellbeing and threatens their ability to provide high-quality care.
‘Chronic understaffing, unsafe working conditions and inadequate pay have led to widespread burn-out, high attrition rates, and the migration of scarce skilled professionals to countries with less damaging work environments.
‘These factors, combined with escalating demand for health care services driven by ageing populations and growing non-communicable diseases, have created a perfect storm that is pushing health systems to their limits.
‘The International Council of Nurses, in partnership with our (US) National Nursing Associations (NNAs) members, has been in continuous contact with frontline nurses over the last few years, hearing directly from them about increasing pressures and challenges within their work environments.
‘To better highlight the trends affecting the nursing workforce, the ICN commissioned a survey in 2024/2025 by the Rosemary Bryant Research Centre (Sharplin, Clarke & Eckert, 2025) based on the lived experiences of NNAs over the past three to four years.
‘This survey provides a unique and insightful perspective, offering data from those directly impacted by the nurses’ workforce crisis.
‘It sets this report apart from other assessments by focusing on key trends drawn from those in the profession who are facing these challenges directly, on a daily basis, giving it unparalleled value and insight into the true state of global nursing.
The global health workforce crisis: A
growing threat to health care and economies.
‘The shortage of nurses is a pressing global issue, with current estimates suggesting a deficit of 5.9 million nurses.
‘The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts that, to meet global health care needs, health systems will require 30 million additional nurses (Haakenstad et al., 2022).
‘Despite awareness of this crisis, many countries rely on short-term solutions like international recruitment and task-shifting to less skilled workers, which fail to address the root causes of nurse retention and recruitment, and in some cases are actually worsening the problem.’
The impact of
unsustainable conditions on nurse retention
and recruitment.
The 2024 survey of 68 NNAs (Sharplin, Clarke & Eckert, 2025) paints a stark picture:
- Increased workload: 61.7% of NNAs reported growing demands on nurses since 2021.
- Limited capacity to meet demand: 38% of NNAs reported that their country’s capacity to meet the current health care needs of their nation was ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
- Workforce exodus: 48.4% of NNAs reported a significant increase in nurses leaving the profession, exacerbating workforce shortages.
- Separately, the RCN declared: ‘We’re calling on the government for better support for students, including universal maintenance grants that account for cost-of-living pressures and a loan forgiveness model.
‘The practice of using nursing students to make up staff gaps while on clinical placements must end, the RCN has told the UK government.
‘We’ve written to the secretaries of state for health and education to call for the misuse of students’ supernumerary – or additional – status to be eradicated.
‘We’ve also asked for better financial support for students and loan forgiveness to encourage recruitment.
‘We’re warning that the practice of relying on students to take on significant responsibilities, when they should be observing on clinical placements, is having a serious impact on their mental and physical health.
‘This means they are also feeling unsafe and insufficiently supervised.’
RCN general secretary and chief executive professor, Nicola Ranger said: ‘Nursing is an amazing career, but the goodwill of our future nurses is being taken for granted.
‘Students are routinely reporting that their learning is being compromised.’
Pre-registration students are required to complete 2,300 hours of clinical placements where they’re considered to be supernumerary, meaning they’re not counted as part of rostered staffing and are supervised by a registered nurse.
Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards say that students must not be counted as part of the staffing required for safe and effective care, making the practice a clear violation of the regulator.
Ranger added: ‘Students on placement should be observing complex skills from registered professionals and exposed to a range of situations which prepare them for life on the job.
‘It’s unacceptable that those same students not only have their education opportunities diminished but are also being used to prop up understaffed wards following years of underinvestment in the nursing profession.’
The RCN stressed: ‘The academic requirements and amount of time spent on unpaid clinical placements, combined with the low level of financial support provided to them during their studies, is forcing students to work multiple jobs on top of their degrees.
‘Students report working dangerous 60-hour weeks, being driven into personal debt, reliant on university hardship funds, questioning their future in the profession and feeling isolated and burnt out.
‘We’re calling for better financial support for nursing students, including universal maintenance grants in England that take into account cost of living pressures, and forgiving student debt for those who commit to working in the health and care system after graduation.
‘Currently, financial support is not enough to cover rent, utility bills, travel costs and expenses, which are essential to undertaking a nursing degree.’
Ranger emphasised: ‘We cannot have a situation where nursing students are burnt out before they have even qualified.
‘We need a new deal for nursing students which includes a proper solution to the staffing crisis in the NHS, the driving force behind so many students being taken advantage of.
‘We need the introduction of universal maintenance grants that recognise student nurses’ unique situation, and a loan forgiveness model for those who commit to working in the public sector.’
This week, hundreds of students are meeting to discuss the state of nurse education at the annual RCN Congress in Liverpool, where they are expected to raise experiences of severe hardship because of a system that doesn’t work for them or attract and keep the nurses of the future.