I want to start with some really welcome news - last week the Northern Ireland Executive approved that nursing staff in Northern Ireland will receive the full 3.6% pay increase recommended for health care staff earlier in the year, backdated to 1 April. Nursing staff in Northern Ireland have been waiting far too long for these uplifts and it has been completely unacceptable.  

But thanks to the dedication and resilience of our RCN Northern Ireland team in continuing to fight for the pay our members deserve, they should expect their uplift and back pay in February 2026 pay packets. I was in Northern Ireland this week where myself and Executive Director of RCN Northern Ireland, Rita Devlin met Mike Nesbitt, Minister for Health to discuss next steps.  

Over the last few weeks, I have spoken at both the UK Joint Representatives Conference and the Scotland Activists’ Conference, where we have been celebrating the great work done by our reps, and discussing what’s next for nursing. I have reiterated the importance of structural reform of nursing pay in every country. You deserve a pay structure that recognises your true value. One that reflects your skill, your sacrifice, and your central role in society.    

While the resolution of the impasse on pay in Northern Ireland is positive – it is also a reminder that no annual cost of living pay increase is ever going to be enough to deliver the fundamental change we need for our profession to be properly valued.  

We’re continuing to make the case to governments across the UK for wider reform – and every day that case gets stronger and harder to ignore. As the Westminster government’s evidence submitted to the NHS Pay Review Body shows, we need urgent and fundamental pay reform, not derisory pay deals that fail to cover living costs. Nursing matters, and that’s why nursing pay matters. And nursing is worth more.  

We’re making sure the UK Government hears the nursing voice loud and clear. We’ve recently responded to the Department for Health and Social Care consultation on the 10 Year Workforce Plan in England and submitted evidence ahead of the UK autumn Budget at the end of the month. We will be keeping a close eye to see whether the UK Government gives nursing the investment the profession needs.  

We know that frontline services need more investment, but the UK Government’s plans to make thousands of clinical expert nurses working for NHS England and ICBs redundant in order to provide that investment is a false economy. The Westminster government’s reforms need people who are not just clinical experts, but also those who know their way around the health and care systems to ensure patients can access the best possible care - the very people they are planning to make redundant. And it is patients who will suffer from this risky approach.  

More detail is also needed on exactly how this funding will be used to improve services and address challenges like corridor care. Because despite nursing staff declaring a national emergency on corridor care 18 months ago, little has been done to solve it. Recent reports from our Corridor Care coalition partners Age UK and RCEM show that staff face an impossible task, with too few of them and demand surging. And sadly, while emergency departments should be places of safety for those in crisis, they have become places of prolonged and unnecessary suffering. We are continuing to campaign to end corridor care and have contributed to the HSSIB investigation into Corridor Care and await their report in the coming months.  

This week we have also issued a joint letter with the British Medical Association urging the UK Government to recognise long COVID and severe post Covid-19 complications as a prescribed industrial disease for health and social care workers. For those suffering from these conditions, who have already been waiting three years, there is no time to waste - action needs to be taken now.  

And finally, I am looking forward to Nursing Support Workers’ Day on 23 November. It’s a really important chance to shine a light on the often unseen but essential care nursing support workers give to patients and their families. I’ve worked with many brilliant nursing support workers throughout my career and they play a key role in the day-to-day running of health and care services across all settings. I hope you will join us in celebrating - you can find everything you need to do that on our website.