We’re excited to be attending the International Council of Nursing Congress taking place next week. This international gathering of thousands of nurses will focus on the theme: Nursing Power to Change the World!
The FNF team and our partners will be presenting at the conference on some of our latest findings and initiatives supporting leadership development for nurses and midwives.
Find out more below and, for those of you also attending, come and connect with the FNF community at Stand B65 – we’d love to see you there!
The development of a Kenya-UK partnership to strengthen nursing and midwifery leadership.
The work of this this partnership offers learning for other low and middle-income countries, supporting the sustainable development of a resilient and empowered nursing and midwifery workforce. We’ll be sharing lessons learned and best practices at ICN: this model can be adapted and replicated in other countries facing similar nursing and midwifery workforce challenges. Find out more here.
Fostering leadership strategies for enhancing quality and safety in health and care systems
FNF’s new leadership programme – Leading, Creating and Sustaining Safe Cultures of Care – equips nursing and midwifery leaders to lead, create, and sustain psychologically safe, learning-driven, and caring cultures. Our ICN presentation will focus on why it’s needed and the impact so far. Find out more about the programme here.
Preceptorship pulse check 2025
We will be sharing findings from FNF’s third national survey on preceptorship, building on previous surveys and capturing insights from across four key groups: students, early career professionals, preceptors and preceptor champions/leads. Look out for the launch of this report during ICN week!
Strengthening the Clinical Educator workforce to meet future demand.
FNF recently carried out a consultation to look at the current challenges and barriers faced by clinical educators in gaining recognition and status within the healthcare workforce and what strategies can be implemented to better support the clinical educator workforce to ensure their contributions are valued and recognised. Strengthening clinical educators through defined frameworks, clear career pathways, and targeted leadership development is essential for achieving sustainable workforce growth. By clarifying roles, securing transparent funding, and elevating clinical educators’ professional identity, healthcare systems can enhance care quality, bolster staff retention, and meet global workforce demands. Read the full report here.
The potential impacts of additional advanced practice regulation on internationally educated nurses and midwives (IENMs) in the UK.
The UK does not formally regulate advanced practice in nursing and midwifery. The UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Strategy (2020 – 2025) committed to review whether additional regulation is required. As of September 2024, almost a quarter of the UK’s nursing and midwifery register was comprised of internationally educated professionals. It’s therefore vital to consider how additional regulations of advanced practice will impact on this significant group of the UK’s workforce. And so, last year the NMC commissioned FNF to undertake a programme of research to inform this are of work. Read about the findings and recommendations here.
The Student Councils programme: from pilot to national adoption of Shared Professional Decision-Making Councils.
In 2021, multi-professional student SPDMCs were established within six Integrated Care Systems (ICS) in South-East England. The programme’s evaluation highlighted a strong impact on student engagement and leadership. A key output was the Student Council Toolkit, enabling easy replication across other settings. This model offers a scalable and transferable approach to embedding student and early career voices in healthcare transformation. It provides a global blueprint for cultivating shared leadership, advancing professional development, and improving retention in health systems worldwide. Read the evaluation report here.
Skills and attributes required for future nurse and midwife leaders.
Nurse and midwife leadership is crucial for global health promotion and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. FNF carried out research to identify what skills and knowledge future nurse and midwife leaders might be perceived to require in the next 6 years. Four generic categories were noted: ‘Creating Positive Healthcare Cultures, Digital Capability/Competence, Values/Traits, and Systems Thinking. Find out more here.
Supporting nurse and midwife innovators and entrepreneurs.
The Good Ideas Lab is an FNF led initiative where subject matter experts facilitate nurses and midwives to explore innovative solutions in health and care, supporting them to develop and pitch their ideas, enhance their skills and hopefully launch their innovation. We will be sharing some of the findings and recommendations during ICN.
(Published 4 June 2025)
