International Women's Day

Looking back, my career has excelled my own expectations. I was born to a poor family and raised on a challenging council estate in Bolton and through the Fostering system on a couple of occasions. However, this was normal to me and I had a happy childhood. Early in my childhood I was bought the best present ever, a child’s plastic first aid kit. From that day onward I had only one career aspiration and that was to become a Nurse!

I didn’t excel at school but I obtained the required level of CSEs to access college and I subsequently started my Nurse training in 1983. I instantly fell in love with Nursing, the NHS and all the new friends, colleagues and interesting opportunities afforded to me. I worked very hard to meet the needs of my patients and to give them the best care and experience. From qualifying in 1986 I worked as a Nurse in surgery gaining experience across most surgical specialities and was successfully promoted through the Nursing hierarchy until I became a Ward Manager.

Throughout my career and up to becoming a Ward Manager I was sometimes frustrated by decisions made by managers and as such moved into management roles to ensure I could support ward and department staff better – but nothing is ever that simple! I undertook a number of clinical and managerial roles such as Clinical Risk Manager, Business Manager, Governance Manager etc. until I left the acute hospital setting and took a national position working with poorly performing Trusts. This was a privileged role where I worked with executives and Boards and many talented people in the NHS.

The only career aspirations I had were to become a Nurse and then to obtain that navy blue frock! I never aspired to or even felt I could ever become a Director let alone a Chief Executive. However, in 2006, I applied for my first Director role – Director of Nursing. I was very lucky that an experienced Chief Executive saw something in me and decided to take a punt on an inexperienced first time Director. I then secured my first Chief Executive role in 2010. This was not an easy transition as at that time I entered a world predominantly dominated by males and was one of a small number of Chief Executives with a clinical background. This is slowly changing and there are now far more women and clinicians entering into Chief Executive roles.

I was lucky that throughout my career I worked hard and was supported by line managers I therefore do not feel I was held back by my gender. If my story tells you anything it is that anyone can achieve if they have the right attitude and aptitude and if you are driven to do your best for a cause – for me that was my patients. Hard work, delivery and drive for improvement will always be recognised and rewarded through development opportunities and even promotions and my personal journey is testament to that.