This International Nurses Day, nurses across NSW are being recognised for the kind, compassionate and high-quality care they provide to their communities every day.
Nurses make up the single largest workforce group in NSW Health, with over 74,000 working across NSW. They play a vital clinical role across the full spectrum of inpatient, outpatient and community settings and are there 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, providing care for the people of NSW.
This year's International Nurses Day theme: Empowered Nurses Save Lives, reflects the extraordinary work nurses are doing in improving health outcomes and addressing global health challenges.
The Minns Labor Government has made significant investments in our nursing workforce to ensure they are empowered to continue delivering exceptional care to patients and their families when they need it most. This includes:
- Rolling out Safe Staffing Levels in identified key areas across NSW public hospitals, with a commitment of 2,480 full time equivalent staff over four years;
- Abolishing the wages cap;
- Delivering the largest pay increase for nurses in more than two decades and the largest pay rise ever for the lowest paid nurses in NSW;
- Saving the 1,112 nurses the Liberals planned to sack
- Boosting the nursing workforce by more than 5,000 full time equivalent staff in our hospitals;
- Supporting our future health workforce with study subsidies ;
- Helping attract and retain the essential workers NSW needs.
This year, the contributions of nurses and midwives are being further recognised through the 2026 Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards.
If you know a nurse or midwife who provided extraordinary and compassionate care, nominate them for the Healing Heart Award.
Nominations for the Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards are open until 12 June. People can nominate on the NSW Health website.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Health Ryan Park:
"International Nurses Day is an important opportunity to recognise the exceptional contribution nurses make across the state. Their professionalism, clinical expertise, and compassion support people every day, in every part of NSW.
"Their work extends far beyond our hospitals, into research and clinical laboratories, education institutions, virtual support, and throughout our communities.
"Their dedication strengthens the health and wellbeing of the NSW community, and we thank them for the compassion, skill, and commitment they bring to their work every day."
Quotes attributable to NSW Health's Chief Nurse Jacqui Cross:
"International Nurses Day gives us a day when we can really focus on the contribution we have all made, and acknowledge that contribution as an individual, as a team, and in the services we support. It also gives other people an opportunity to recognise and talk about the impact nurses have had in their lives and healthcare journeys.
"As the Chief Nurse for NSW Health, I am immensely proud of the outstanding work nurses do each and every day. As a nurse myself I know the depth and value of the contribution that you make, and I believe it's such a wonderful profession that genuinely makes a difference. Happy International Nurses Day."
