“Palliative care nursing is about giving more of what matters most: time, comfort and dignity”

Galway Hospice Foundation Highlights the Importance of Palliative Care Nursing Through International Nurses Day Campaign

Galway Hospice Foundation has marked International Nurses Day by celebrating the compassion, expertise and humanity of nurses and healthcare assistants working across its services.

Throughout the week, Galway and Mayo Hospices shared reflections from members of their nursing teams to recognise the many ways nurses contribute to hospice care every day. Their voices reflect a shared commitment to person-centred care, reassurance and being present for patients and families when it matters most.

The campaign explored the meaning of palliative care nursing, the importance of dignity and connection, and the impact small moments of kindness can have during some of life’s most difficult times.

The campaign was developed around this year’s International Nurses Day theme: “Our Nurses. Our Future. Empowered Nurses Save Lives,” which highlights the vital role nurses play not only in clinical care, but also in providing comfort, dignity, connection and support for patients and families at some of life’s most difficult moments.

The Human Side of Hospice Nursing

Within palliative care, nurses play a particularly unique role. Alongside clinical expertise, hospice nursing requires emotional presence, communication, empathy and the ability to support patients and families through uncertainty, vulnerability and grief. Often, it is the smallest gestures — listening, sitting quietly beside someone, offering reassurance or helping preserve dignity — that leave the greatest impact.

Mayo Hospice nurse Eugene Slattery reflected on the lasting impact of kindness in nursing care and described palliative care nursing as “giving more of what matters most: time, comfort and dignity.” As he explained: “People rarely remember clinical interventions. They remember kindness. They remember being listened to. They remember being treated like a person, not a diagnosis.”

A Growing Need for Nurses Across Ireland

Across Ireland, the nursing profession continues to grow in scale and importance. According to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland’s State of the Register 2025, there were 92,385 nurses and midwives on the NMBI Register as of 1 June 2025 — the highest number recorded to date.

However, demand for healthcare professionals is expected to continue rising significantly in the years ahead. Ireland’s Future Health and Social Care Workforce paper, informed by ESRI capacity reviews, projects that the health and social care workforce will need to grow by approximately 1.4% to 2% annually up to 2040 to meet the needs of an ageing and growing population.

Currently, 80 nurses work across Galway and Mayo Hospices, supporting patients and families through inpatient, community and day care services.

Supporting People at Home with Dignity

Kevin Finnegan, Clinical Nurse Specialist with the Community Palliative Care Team at Galway Hospice, highlighted the importance of supporting people at home with dignity and compassionate care: “Our aim is to empower patients to live at home with dignity, whilst being able to access a professional and compassionate programme of care designed around them and their families. A referral to us does not mean that hope is lost — it means support, comfort and care when it is needed most.”

For many nurses working in hospice care, supporting quality of life, human connection and emotional wellbeing is just as important as clinical care.

Laura Glynn, Nurse at Galway Hospice, described palliative care nursing simply as:
“Being a safe hand to reach for.”

Together, these reflections highlight the deeply human side of hospice nursing — where presence, empathy and compassion are often just as important as clinical expertise.