To mark International Nurses Day Total Healthcare/Tāmaki Health head of nursing Rachael Scully honours the incredible work of our nursing team.

He aroha whakatō, he aroha puta mai (If kindness is sown, then kindness you shall receive).

Today is the day to celebrate the work that each and every nurse has put into serving their communities. 'Nurses – A voice to lead' is the theme and calls to the health system for a need to protect, support and invest in the nursing profession to build a resilient nursing workforce to serve the communities we look after.

Tāmaki Health and Total Healthcare PHO have indicated this year a strong commitment to the nursing profession by investing in education and scholarship funding for nurses. The team have a dedicated focus on recruitment to support work to resolve the national shortage of nurses.

Today is the day for nurses to acknowledge themselves and their colleagues for the commitment that each and every one of the nursing team had when a ‘call to arms’ went out to gather together and fight a pandemic. Collectively as a nursing team we did that with pride and honour for the wellbeing of the public.

‘The practice of nursing is grounded in clinical competence, but is also deeply embedded in the experience of relationship and the cultivation and expression of compassion.’ (Joan Halifax, 2013).