Early May provides an important opportunity to recognise professions that are fundamental to health and care systems worldwide. Last week marked the International Day of the Midwife (5 May), and on 12 May we recognised International Nurses Day – a dedicated opportunity to focus on nursing and the vital role nurses play across health and care systems.

International Nurses Day aligns with the International Council of Nurses (ICN) 2026 theme, “Empowered Nurses Save Lives”. This theme reinforces a clear and timely message: nurses deliver their greatest life‑saving impact when they are trusted, supported and enabled to practise to the full scope of their knowledge, skills and leadership. In the context of rising demand, workforce pressures and increasing complexity, nurses continue to sustain care, protect communities and hold health systems together worldwide.

Nursing is often described as the heart of healthcare, but it is also a powerful driver of quality, safety and innovation. Empowered nurses prevent avoidable deterioration, reduce unnecessary hospital admissions, support people to live and work well, and connect care across primary, community and secondary services. Their clinical experience and trusted relationships position them uniquely to identify challenges, design solutions and lead meaningful improvement.

One of our Health Innovation Manchester (HInM) Clinical Office objectives is to support  clinicians to be innovators within the system – and nurses are central to this ambition. Across leadership, innovation, research, service redesign and population health, nurses bring frontline insight that helps shape care models that work in the real world.

Working alongside NHS partners, digital teams, industry, academics and communities, nurses can help translate ideas into practical, scalable solutions that improve outcomes and make better use of resources.

Importantly, innovation design and delivery at HInM is never the work of one profession, team or office alone. Our impact is built on integrated working across the whole organisation; clinical, analytical, innovation, commercial, academic and operational teams, with every role contributing to a bigger picture. Each team plays its part in supporting, enabling and scaling clinicially‑led innovation, aligned to the HInM strategy and shared purpose. And of course this cant be done without determined and deliberate engagement with nurses, midwives and the wider clinical community in GM

The Clinical Office sits proudly within this collective effort, championing clinical voices while working in partnership across GM to remove barriers, support evaluation, scale what works and embed innovation into everyday practice. By creating the right conditions for clinician‑led innovation, we help ensure nurses are empowered to influence change, shape services and save lives.

12 May – International Nurses Day – is our moment to celebrate our nursing colleagues: their expertise, leadership and impact. It is also a reminder that when nurses are empowered, innovation thrives – and when teams work together across the system, transformation becomes possible.