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London

Welcome to the London page for student nurses, midwives and trainee nursing associates. This page will contain useful information and resources from the regions nursing and midwifery team.

Meet Nichole McIntosh, Regional Head of Nursing and Midwifery, London

Nichole McIntosh

Nichole is a senior nurse who is passionate about authentically and strategically leading the provision of high-quality patient care for all and supporting staff to develop professionally and progress in their healthcare careers. Nichole is currently the Regional Head of Nursing and Midwifery at HEE in London. In this role, she works closely with partners including healthcare providers and higher education institutions across London to educate, develop and sustain a world class nursing and midwifery workforce that is fit for the 21st century and beyond.

Nichole was awarded an honorary visiting professorship at City, University of London in January 2022. Nichole is also a poet, digital broadcaster, motivational speaker, entrepreneur and editorial advisor of the Royal College of Nursing Institute’s nursing management journal. Nichole is passionate about lifting as she rises and, to this end, mentors students and nurses from diverse backgrounds to assist them to progress in their careers. She uses poetry as a practitioner of healing arts in the promotion of health and wellbeing. Nichole was born and raised in Jamaica and having worked for over two decades in the NHS, she proudly shares her experiences as a black woman and professional within a culturally diverse sector, giving honest and insightful reflections in her successful blog: The Human Touch.

Nichole is a first-generation immigrant from Jamaica and is immensely proud of her maroon heritage. She launched her Maroon Mindset podcast in 2019 and it was named as one of the best 15 UK nursing podcasts to follow in 2023 for the third consecutive year as well as one of the best 20 UK motivational podcasts in 2021.

Nichole was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts in 2019 in recognition of her contribution to nursing as well as her achievements in championing the benefits of diversity and inspiring others to achieve their goals using a range of mediums.

Nichole is active on social media and can be followed at:

To find useful information and resources regarding education and training please see the London stakeholder Enewsletter.

For regular updates from the nursing and midwifery team in London, follow us on twitter.

Anna McGuinness - Head of Clinical Education Transformation

Anna’s passion is to support the development of the workforce ensuring they have the knowledge, skills and ability to provide the highest level of care for patients. As a clinical educator Anna has supported staff to be able to confidently say that if it was their loved one being cared for that they would want someone like them to be caring for them. Now in a more strategic regional role that remains the same by working with partners in health and education.

Anna’s background is in clinical nursing in rehabilitation, neurosurgery and multiple specialist intensive care settings across London. A love of mentoring, teaching and developing others led to a role in clinical education, first at the bedside in critical care, moving on to be a lecturer practitioner in critical care. Anna then moved to become lead nurse for education within a trust and then in her current role as head of clinical education transformation for the region. Anna is also currently undertaking the Nye Bevan Leadership programme.

A recent cancer survivor Anna has lived experience of the care which is provided to our population across London and the impact that this can have on the lives of those we care for, and their families, reinforcing the impact that knowledgeable and compassionate staff can have on this journey.

Jenny Ekstrom – Deputy Head of Clinical Education Transformation.

An outcomes focused senior nurse, Jenny has developed an extensive breadth of leadership experience working across regional and integrated care system (ICS) footprints, as well as in clinical career spanning primary, community, and acute care. She particularly enjoys working collaboratively to achieve a shared vision for the future.

A strategic thinker, she believes workforce and education transformation are essential for clinicians to develop the skills, knowledge, and behaviours needed to meet the health needs of the populations we serve. She is passionate about tackling health inequalities and widening access into health professions careers. Jenny was one of London’s nominees, to participate in the national HEE Senior Clinical Leadership Programme.

Jenny is a registered adult nurse and independent non-medical prescriber who holds a number of academic qualifications. She is currently studying for a Postgraduate Diploma in health professions education.

Caroline Ward - Clinical Workforce Transformation Lead

Caroline is a senior nurse who is passionate about high quality care and works to ensure alignment of service and education transformation allows for this. Caroline has experience in operational and strategic management as well as education, training, and workforce transformation programmes.

Caroline is dual qualified as both a registered adult nurse and registered specialist community public health nurse (SCPHN). As an assistant director for children and young people’s services within east London, Caroline managed a range of complex services and staff including universal and specialist children’s nursing services, children and young people’s mental health services (CAMHS), paediatric therapies, immunisations, and youth justice (health). Caroline has used the understanding gained in her previous roles in her current role, enabling wider system transformation.

Michele Mtandabari - Clinical Workforce Transformation Lead

Michele considers herself to be a hardworking and analytical nurse, who can adapt and work with people from every background and fully appreciates the diversity of the environment which she works in. Michele recognises the importance of maintaining flexibility in this ever-changing health environment. As a professional she takes pride in upholding organisational values, by putting needs of service users, families and carers at the forefront and demonstrating compassion and ensuring they always receive highest standards of care.

Michele originally arrived in UK from Zimbabwe to pursue a career in nursing. Since qualifying as an adult nurse, she has had a significant experience of working in various clinical roles in the NHS, including working in adult intensive care unit, theatre recovery, and ophthalmology. As a matron and head of nursing, Michele continued to develop her leadership and managerial skills where she started to experience her passion to lead in the strategic workforce agenda.

As workforce transformation lead Michele has developed knowledge of government policies and how they influence decision making in service development, as well as the importance of collaboration between stakeholders who influence healthcare provision. This has allowed her the ability to communicate complex information to stakeholders including representatives from higher education institutes, integrated care systems, and other networks.

Michele has a very strong interest in coaching and developing others through a creative mentoring approach. She loves to remind people of the importance of bringing your authentic self to work and having confidence that there is value to what you bring to the table despite your background or what you look like.

Michele is a registered adult nurse and holds several academic qualifications including Diploma in Adult Intensive Care Nursing, BSc Nursing in Professional Nursing Practice, Post Graduate Diploma in Management.

This section highlights the priorities for the nursing and midwifery team in London over the next couple of months.

- Start a flexible working project for students across pan-London HEIs and trusts.

- Develop and implement a revised regional Newly Qualified Nurse (NQN) employment offer.

- Scope peer support best practices across pan-London HEIs and identify the next steps.

- Identify methods to collect student exit data internally and strategies to enhance data collection and sharing.

- Further develop meaningful student engagement with pre-registration midwives and understand what positive engagement looks like from the learners perspective.

- Regional midwife learner webinar as part of our student experience programme to determine priorities of themes from the students perspective and their priorities to take forward.

- Align student midwife engagement work with the reflection space project and capital midwife health and well-being initiatives.

- Continue the work we do alongside our multi-professional student shared decision-making council.

Student Nurses' Talk - Back for 2022-23!

The monthly forum will be held online and hosted by London South Bank University. It will take place on the third Thursday of every month from 5pm - 6pm.

Each month will cover a different topic and consist of guest speakers and open discussion/ time for questions.

The forum aims to provide a space for student nurses to connect with each other and nursing leaders. Its focus is to listen to student nurses experience and examine ways to improve these experiences.