Celebrating International Nurses Day
Published on 12 May 2022
On International Nurses Day, we’re celebrating nursing students and the 705,265 nurses and nursing associates on our register who continue to provide safe, kind and effective care all over the UK.
This year’s theme is Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the profession’s impact on people’s health and wellbeing.
Andrea Sutcliffe CBE, Chief Executive and Registrar for the Nursing and Midwifery Council, said:
“It’s always fantastic to see the pride that nurses and nursing associates have in their profession. Their roles take a huge amount of skill, compassion and commitment, and touch so many lives. They are at the heart of our health and social care system and as their professional regulator, today we celebrate them.
“Nurses do indeed have a voice to lead – they are the largest professional group who spend the most time with people using health and social care services. Their insight needs to be respected, valued, listened to and acted upon.
“Whether they practise in hospitals, in social care, in the community, in public health, in education and research or leadership roles, nursing professionals have worked within a tough and increasingly complex environment over the last two years. A huge thank you to them all and to the professionals of the future; our talented nursing students.”
Notes
• The number of nurses and nursing associates (705,265) mentioned above includes dual registrants (those registered as both nurses and midwives).
• As of our most recent data report there are 698,367 nurses and nursing associates and 6,898 dual registrants on our register.
Other recent news…
Over half of professionals satisfied in their work, new NMC data show
Published on 04 February 2026
The widest survey of nurses, midwives and nursing associates by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) reveals that over half of respondents (58%) are satisfie
Students and new registrants shaping future Code and revalidation process
Published on 22 January 2026
Students and new registrants are influencing the development of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) future Code and revalidation process, as the regulator
NMC maintains best fitness to practise performance for five years
Published on 19 January 2026
New data show that the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) key timeliness metric for Fitness to Practise (FtP) casework continues to improve and is at its fas