The state of nursing in 2021

The theme for International Nurses Day this year (12 May 2021) is ‘Nurses: a voice to lead—a vision for future healthcare’. This is an opportunity, globally, to show how nursing will look in the future and how the profession will lead in transforming the next stage of healthcare.

In 2020, the World Health Organization's first ever State of the World's Nursing report was released (WHO et al, 2020). This report used data gathered from 191 countries. Its key message is that governments need to create nursing jobs as well as invest in nurse education and leadership. This is not a new message, well at least not to nurses in the UK. This has been our mantra for many years and for many years it has gone unheeded. Nursing is a safety-critical profession and this cannot be forgotten, there is still much to be done. However, the report is a useful contribution to the progress of the profession.