Nursing staff throughout the world have endured an unprecedented increase in distress, anxiety and depression. Physical and mental health have come under attack from anxiety, depression, elevated blood pressure and increased stress hormone production. More than ever, the importance and urgency of initiatives which promote nurses’ and midwives’ wellbeing should be emphasised.

Pocket Poetry: Poems for Nurses and Midwives is a companion of poems intended to provide encouragement and consolation to those on the frontline of our care sector. The poems themselves explore the meaning of nursing, midwifery and compassion in order to promote new nurses’ and midwives’ self-care and wellbeing. The poems in this selection demonstrate the empathy and benevolence crucial to the profession, and include works on the relationship between nurse and patient, as well as the meaning and fulfilment of nursing for those who have chosen that career.