I'm Ellen McNicholas, Regional Director for the RCN in the South East. I wanted to take some time to introduce myself properly to you and to share the bits of my experience that have helped me to understand the value of the independent health and social care sector and to share that you matter to us.
I trained as a nurse in the 1980s in Glasgow and following working in the NHS in Scotland, I found myself in Jersey in the Channel Islands working for a private provider as a clinical nurse manager responsible for both nursing home and domiciliary nursing care. I spent five years in this role and experienced the challenges that many of you face daily.
I returned to the UK mainland and the NHS for the next period of my career and eventually became the Director of Quality and Chief Nurse at a CCG. My responsibilities here included the commissioning of Continuing Healthcare and I was also the lead for the Transforming Care Programme. Both of these elements required close working with colleagues from independent health and social care organisations, often providing care for people with the most complex and challenging needs and doing so in a fabulous, person-centred way. As a member of the board I was, of course, also aware of the work of my colleagues in primary care and the issues facing our GPN workforce.
For the last three years I have also been a trustee on the board of a charity that provides housing, personal care and dementia support.
The South East region has around 72,500 members and more than 16,000 work in independent health and social care settings - you are a big part of our membership. Colleagues in the RCN, like me, have shared some of your experience and we are here to support you and we need your involvement to help us shape what we can do for you.
I am pleased to hear from Rian Gleave, as the Independent Health and Social Care Lead Nurse for our region, about the events and work that have been delivered, but I want us to do more in 2025, so please think about getting involved. We would love to hear from you, whether in relation to education, quality standards, pay or other elements of terms and conditions, you can shape what the RCN offers to members like you. Get in touch with Rian to share your thoughts and ideas.
There are also numerous RCN resources tailored specifically for independent sector members so do make sure you are making the most of all that RCN membership can offer you: Nursing across independent health and social care
You can also get involved in RCN activities more locally through your local RCN branch in active roles, attending events (which often offer valuable CPD), or as a RCN representative.
