An end-of-year message of thanks from our CEO, Stephen

As 2025 draws to a close, I want to thank you for the collaboration, candour and support you’ve extended to APNA this year. Working together has helped us keep more Australians well and out of hospital and strengthened the role of primary health care nurses across the system. Your partnership has mattered—deeply—and we’re grateful.

Highlights from 2025 (at a glance)

• Workforce programs advancing: Our NiPHC program remained on track, with the Jan–Jun 2025 performance report approved in October and the 2025–26 Activity Work Plan endorsed—supporting Transition to Practice, Building Nurse Capacity clinics and CPD delivery across priority regions. 

• Evidence into practice: APNA published new research on nurse‑led models of care, “Enhancing healthcare access: Optimising nursing workforce utilisation in primary health care”, demonstrating gains in confidence and skills for clinic participants.

• Sector convening: The Festival of Nursing 2025 drew strong participation and partner engagement, with a cleaner operating model planned for 2026 based on lessons learned.

• Membership and digital experience: We continued to strengthen nurse engagement and tools, including the ongoing Florence user‑experience work and business case tracking.

• Policy and advocacy cadence: APNA’s integrated advocacy work progressed across scope of practice and workforce reform, with structured contributions and alliances reflected in our master overview materials and board papers. 

Looking ahead to 2026 – our shared priorities

• Career architecture for primary health care nursing: We’ll deepen and modernise APNA’s career architecture—building on established frameworks and program learnings—so nurses have clearer pathways at every stage of practice, and can move across settings with confidence.

• Scope of practice—turning consensus into action: With broad stakeholder support for enabling nurses to work to full scope, we’ll continue the push for pragmatic implementation through partnerships and targeted policy work. 

• Education as a strategic enabler: We’ll expand contemporary, evidence‑based education that lifts capability, supports change in care models, and drives measurable outcomes for communities—anchored in robust design, quality assurance and evaluation.

Across all of this, our focus is simple: make it easier for nurses to deliver the care Australians need, with transparency, accountability and shared learning.

Thank you for being part of this journey. I look forward to continuing our partnership in 2026.

Warm regards,
Stephen Duns
Chief Executive Officer, APNA