Celebrating our Nurses on International Nursing Day
International Nurses Day is our chance to recognise the extraordinary contribution nurses make to health systems around the world. Nursing is a profession rooted in care and compassion. Internationally, nationally and, importantly for us, locally we see those values are lived every day across our practices and services. This year, we’re proud to spotlight two of our nursing leaders, Gemma Robinson, Head of Clinical Operations, and Sandra Greenwood, Executive Board member for Nursing. Their careers reflect the depth, diversity, and enduring impact of nursing in primary care.
For Gemma, Head of Clinical Operations, the journey into nursing began with a desire to understand people beyond their conditions. Her early experience in mental health nursing, both in inpatient wards and community teams, shaped a philosophy that continues to guide her leadership today.
“I wanted to understand people, not just conditions,” Gemma reflects. “Those early roles showed me how powerful it can be to really listen, build trust, and support people through some of the hardest moments of their lives.”
This now underpins her work at Conexus, where she leads services with a strong focus on empathy, clinical support, and designing care around real lives rather than systems. Her approach reflects a wider shift in healthcare towards integration and person-centred models, something nursing has championed for decades.
Similarly, Sandra’s 40-year career demonstrates the evolution and influence of nursing across multiple settings. Beginning her training at 17, Sandra’s path has spanned orthopaedics, community nursing, health visiting, and advanced practice.
Her belief that “prevention is better than cure” led her into community roles early on, including a decade as a health visitor in Pontefract. From there, she helped lead an integrated nursing team within general practice, introduced nurse triage in 2002, and played a key role in shaping primary care at system level as a lead nurse within a Clinical Commissioning Group.
After retiring from a senior leadership role, Sandra’s passion for nursing brought her to Conexus, where she now serves as Nurse Director on the Board while continuing her clinical work as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner.
“I have always liked a challenge,” Sandra says. “The changing pace of primary care feeds my innovation and desire to improve services… After 40 years, I am still proud to be called a nurse.”
Together, Gemma and Sandra exemplify what International Nurses Day celebrates: a profession that is adaptable, forward-thinking, with people right at the centre. Their stories highlight how nursing continues to shape not only patient care, but the systems and services that support communities.
At Conexus Healthcare, we recognise that nursing is central to delivering high-quality, accessible primary care. Whether through leadership, clinical expertise, or innovation, our nurses play a vital role in ensuring care remains kind, connected, and focused on the people we serve.
This International Nurses Day, we thank all nurses across Conexus and beyond for their dedication, resilience, and unwavering commitment to patients and communities.