NHS England has confirmed it is postponing its International Year of the Nurse and Midwife campaign because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Year of the Nurse and Midwife is an international campaign run by the World Health Organisation in 2020 to celebrate and showcase nursing and midwifery.
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But the coronavirus outbreak has led to NHS England postponing its own part of the campaign, in which it was running blogs, national and regional events, and shared nurses’ stories.
A spokesperson for the quango told Nursing in Practice they were unable to give any idea as to when the year would be postponed to and that it depended on how long the coronavirus outbreak would last.
An NHS England spokesperson said: ‘We will postpone the Year of the Nurse and Midwife campaign so we can prioritise dealing with coronavirus.’
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‘We would like to thank everyone for their hard work and look forward to reconvening when appropriate to do so,’ they added.
Events that will no longer take place as it stands include the Year of the Nurse and Midwife park run in May, the NHS Big Tea in July and ‘the wear blue to say thank you’ day also in July.
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The event marks 200 years since the birth of Florence Nightingale.
Nursing in Practice has contacted WHO for comment.
