Chief Nurse to take up new leadership role at University of Coventry

Health Education England’s Chief Nurse, Professor Lisa Bayliss-Pratt, is to take up a six-month secondment as Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Coventry, it was announced today.

I am delighted to have been offered this opportunity to join the leadership team at such a forward-thinking and innovative university,  Lisa Bayliss-Pratt said. And it’s a particular pleasure that I will be returning to the university where I studied for my first nursing degree. I very much see this role as an opportunity to build on the multi-professional education and training agenda that I’ve been proud to lead at HEE, including dementia training standards, apprenticeship routes and the new Nursing Associate role.

I have always done my utmost to champion the professions of nursing and midwifery and raise their status and profile, whether in education, training or practice. So I’m looking forward to this new challenge, where I’ll be continuing my efforts to develop and widen access through new routes and growing the Nursing Associate role. Having seen for myself the excellent and innovative approaches to teaching and learning at Coventry, which led to its recent well-deserved gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework, I’m confident that it can play a key role in taking this important work forward.

Given the prominence of the nursing workforce challenge, it is vital that HEE is not without the leadership of a Chief Nurse, so Ian Cumming, Chief Executive at HEE, is delighted to announce that Professor Mark Radford, currently Deputy Chief Nursing Officer for NHS England & NHS Improvement, will be joining HEE on secondment as our Chief Nurse as of the 1 October. Mark has played a prominent role in the development of the interim NHS People Plan and ongoing work to develop the full People Plan, working across NHSE and I and HEE, so is well placed to lead HEE’s contribution to tackling the workforce challenge over the coming months.

Professor Ian Cumming, Chief Executive, Health Education England said:

This is excellent news for both Lisa and HEE. There is a clear recognition of the excellent work she has been doing with us but also a great opportunity to build further on that, continuing to promote and develop the nursing and midwifery professions. I would also like to extend  a warm welcome to Mark and look forward to his contributions to nursing, the wider workforce and ongoing development of the People Plan.

Ruth May, chief nursing officer said:

 I am very pleased about this announcement. Lisa has played such an important role in nursing leadership at HEE and in the introduction of the new nursing associate role. I wish her every success in her new position at Coventry University.

Mark is currently the national workforce lead for nursing. He has been the driving force behind the national retention programme which continues to deliver improvements across England.  But this is just a taste of the impact I believe he can make to workforce from this new role. We still have a great deal to do to reach ambitions laid out in the Long Term Plan and the Interim People Plan and I can’t think of a safer pair of hands to deliver this work for HEE. In the spirit of continued cooperation and joint working across ALBs, Mark will also remain Deputy Chief Nursing Officer to ensure that the links and delivery across England are optimised.

Coventry University Pro Vice-Chancellor for Health and Life Sciences and Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education and Students), Professor Guy Daly, said:

We are very pleased to welcome Lisa back to Coventry University, where her very successful journey as a champion of the nursing and midwifery professions began. She brings to our senior leadership team a wealth of experience in strategic leadership, innovation and oversight for health professions education and workforce development in England and internationally.

Professor Bayliss-Pratt will continue with her role as Programme Lead for global Nursing Now campaign, working two days a week on the strategic goal of improving health globally by developing nurse leaders and equipping them to play a more influential role in health systems.

Professor Bayliss-Pratt has been Chief Nurse at Health Education England since 2012 and during that time pioneered and introduced the role of Nursing Associate, the first new nurse role in England for a generation, alongside a transformation programme for nurse education.