The new Chair of UCH London Nurses’ Charity is Professor Helen Allan

I am thrilled to be the new Chair of the UCH London Nurses’ Charity and really look forward to working with the trustees to develop the Charity’s work. I was in Set 214 at University College Hospital, and registered as a nurse in 1978. I worked for 13 years in acute care, spending 10 months in Orthopaedics at Kings College Hospital London, doing my ICU course at Guys Hospital, and then spending six years as a ward sister in Intensive Care/5.1 at UCH. Where I met Theresa Wiseman who is our new Treasurer.

I left in 1987 and completed a BSc Sociology at the London School of Economics & Political Sciences, University of London. I then trained as a nurse teacher and taught social sciences and nursing at Bloomsbury College of Nursing & Midwifery and then at the Royal College of Nursing Institute. I completed my PhD in Nursing part time at Manchester University/Royal College of Nursing in 2000. For many years I worked with Professor Pam Smith at the University of Surrey in the Centre for Research in Nursing and Midwifery Education, becoming Director of the Centre until 2012.

I have held Chairs at the Universities of Surrey, York and since 2014 at Middlesex University. I use feminist research methodologies, qualitative and mixed methods and action research. My research and practice interests include nursing education, practice learning, health care organisations and reproductive technologies, women’s health and midwifery.

Moving forwards:
My vision for the Charity is to increase the membership by raising its profile in UCLH NHS Foundation Trust among younger and active registered nurses. To do this, the trustees are pleased to announce:

• The sponsorship by the Charity of Preceptee Awards for three years. These will be awarded for the first time at an event on December 17th 2018 at UCLH.
• Development of a website with an external web developer linking with Alison Finch, Shirley Warwick and Helen Allan.
• Development of an online Magazine format as well as the hard copy.
  Development of a digital database.
• Payment of membership fees to be online for new members.

Encouragement for new members to apply for education funding from the Charity to meet personal career development and move the future of nursing at UCLH forward.