Presbyterian moderator: Florence Nightingale would be proud of nurses today

On a visit to Craigavon Area Hospital in January of this year, I said that ‘no one will go through life without needing the National Health Service, and everyone who gives of themselves for us, and our health, is well deserving of our support and our prayers’.

In the short time since, my appreciation for our health services, North and South, along with my overwhelming thankfulness for the work that our nurses do in hospitals, surgeries and care homes across Ireland, has grown and grown.

It is an understatement to say that these are desperately challenging times, especially for our nurses on the front line, who face coronavirus selflessly at close quarters each and every day.

They are in my thoughts and prayers, as are our nurses who continue to provide daily, routine care for patients, but who are also on that same frontline.

As we acknowledge all our nurses on International Nurses Day, their skill, dedication and compassion, I believe that Florence Nightingale would have been proud of those who followed in her footsteps. A pride that is shared by my church, and those beyond its bounds.

Rt Rev Dr William Henry, Presbyterian moderator