Nursing conference highlights need for research in local healthcare

The University of Gibraltar and GHA Nursing Conference 2026 showcased nurse practitioner-led research addressing real world challenges such as cardiac rehabilitation, minor injury units and dementia care.

Vice Chancellor Professor Catherine Bachleda opened the event last week and stressed that excellence in teaching and research “does not exist in a vacuum,” but is “nurtured through high impact relationships.”

Prof Bachleda said the presentations delivered at the conference demonstrate that nurses are not just caregivers, but they are also scholars and innovators leading change.

By sharing this work, she added, the conference helped ensure that nursing in Gibraltar remained an autonomous, evidence-driven profession, ready to shape the community’s healthcare future.

Addressing delegates, the Minister for the University, Pat Orfila, praised the nurses present adding it was “imperative” to equip professionals with the skills needed to progress in clinical research, practice and patient care.

She paid tribute to nurses, educators, researchers and healthcare leaders, describing them as the “driving force behind our collective health and well-being” and insisting their work “cannot be taken for granted.”

Ms Orfila said she was reassured that Gibraltar was “in very capable hands”.

The Minister for Health, Gemma Arias-Vasquez, was unable to attend the event as she was in Barcelona, and instead Professor Bachleda read out her speech in which she thanked organisers and expressed hope that this event would be the first of many.

She described nurses as being at the heart of the health service, adding that the day’s programme clearly reflected their professionalism, compassion and commitment to high-quality, patient-centred care.

She reaffirmed support for development, leadership and progression opportunities within the nursing workforce and welcomed the strong focus in the conference agenda on innovation, evidence-based practice and continuous improvement.

Facilitating some of the presentations was Dr Louise Lawson, a
Senior Lecturer in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Gibraltar, who described the event as very important both for clinicians and for the University.

She is also responsible for the programme leadership of the MSc Contemporary Nursing programme and said the event plays a key role in allowing nurse practitioners to disseminate their research and develop professionally.

“A lot of the speakers are presenting research they have done as part of the MSc contemporary nursing programme,” she said.

“When you’re a researcher, it’s important that you disseminate and get your research out there so that people know about it.”

For many of the presenters it was their first experience speaking at a conference and it forms part of their professional development.

“It’s also important for the university because it shows that we are active in research and dissemination and innovations in practice,” she said.

The topics presented were relevant to Gibraltar, with the research themes having local significance.

One session addressed sexual health and the development of well-person, well-man and well-woman clinics, and another topic was chronic stress.

“I think a lot of people will be able to resonate with what’s going on in the research,” she said.

“Having all this new research that’s going on is amazing.”

The conference is seen not as the end point, but as the first step in a wider process of sharing Gibraltar based nursing research.

Dr Lawson explained that former students are being encouraged and supported to publish their work in peer-reviewed nursing journals and to look beyond Gibraltar for international platforms.

“The first step is to do something locally; if we can get them to present in international conferences, that will be even better. And then, if they can publish in peer-reviewed journals.”

Publication strategies and support are built into the programme, with staff working alongside graduates to refine their work for submission, she added.

The recent cohort’s work highlighted that there is the lack of existing nursing research in Gibraltar.

“Every single student who did a literature review found that there was hardly any nursing research that had been carried out in Gibraltar before,” Dr Lawson said.

The most recent programme included 18 students, each of whom identified a gap in the literature related to local practice.

Dr Lawson said the students are bridging that gap and are going to be published in Gibraltar.

She said this was fantastic from a global perspective, underlining the importance of local research.

“It’s important that we have local research,” she said.

“As nurse practitioners, as nurses, as educational people, we are evidence-based practitioners, so we are expected to work under the evidence base.”

She added there is current emphasis on research driven protocols and guidelines, and that nurses in Gibraltar are increasingly drawing on both local studies and international research.

This includes work disseminated by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), to inform practice and shape guidelines and protocols.