Top NHS nurse joins health regulator
Dr Ruth May, a former NHS theatre sister and Chief Nurse, is joining the health sector regulator Monitor.
Dr May joins Monitor from a role as Regional Chief Nurse and Nurse Director for the Midlands and East region of NHS England.
She has been appointed to the role of Nursing Director – a key post within Monitor’s Patient and Clinical Engagement team. In this role she will complement the clinical advice provided by Professor Hugo Mascie-Taylor, Monitor’s Medical Director and Executive Director of Patient and Clinical Engagement.
Dr May began her career with a variety of nursing roles before becoming a theatre sister at Frimley Park Hospital. She was Acting Director of Nursing at Barnet Hospital before being appointed as the substantive Director of Nursing and Deputy Chief Executive with Havering Primary Care Trust.
In October 2005, she became Chief Executive of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, a post which she held for two years. She has also been Chief Executive of Mid-Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust.
Dr May joins Monitor from a role as Regional Chief Nurse and Nurse Director for the Midlands and East region of NHS England.
Professor Mascie-Taylor said:
I’d like to warmly welcome Ruth to Monitor. She has a depth of knowledge both as a nurse and as a former NHS chief executive and I look forward to working with her.
Dr May said:
This is a really exciting time to be joining Monitor. The NHS faces a real challenge delivering the quality of care patients expect within the funding available.
The recent Stop the Pressure campaign, which I led, demonstrates how thinking creatively can improve patients’ experience – in this case reducing the number of pressure ulcers by 50% – and deliver cost savings to the NHS. I’m delighted the Guardian recognised that as part of its coverage of NHS Change Day and I look forward to bringing that kind of thinking to the health regulator.