Welcome from your Council member

Hi, my name is Sally Bassett. I am delighted that I have been elected as the South East regional representative on the RCN Council. I wanted to introduce myself to you through this blog.

The South East region is a large one, and the chances are we may never have met. But I hope through this blog and others that I will write and through the branch meetings I hope to attend during my two-year appointment, you will be able to get to know me better and feel able to contact me on the issues that you think Council needs to be aware of and ask questions about the actions that Council are taking. 

I started my nursing career as a nursing auxiliary and became a state-enrolled then registered nurse. I worked in intensive care and general medicine as a ward sister and later as a clinical teacher. My senior career included working in clinical effectiveness, governance, policy, leadership, education and research. I have been fortunate to work in the community as a primary care trust director of nursing, deputy chief nurse in a strategic health authority, and chief nurse in a charity providing NHS care. As a nurse advisor at the Department of Health, I led the development and implementation of the community matron policy. I am delighted that the role has become an established part of the nursing workforce. I have also worked in the private sector as a director in the Forensics Practice at PwC, a professional services firm, providing independent nursing, governance and organisation advice. In this role, I was involved in the investigation review of Mid-Staffordshire, Winterbourne View, and the Keogh Reviews that informed the early design of the Care Quality Commission. I am currently a senior lecturer in leadership and professional practice and a Masters subject coordinator at Oxford Brookes University. I was awarded a doctorate in nursing in July 2024 for my research into the perspectives and explanations of successful executive nurse leadership on English NHS Provider Trust Boards.

I have been a career-long member of the RCN, contributing in various ways, including pay campaigns as far back as the early 1980s and, more recently, as a voting volunteer. I am currently the secretary for the RCN Oxfordshire Branch and have been chair of the Nursing and Management Leadership Forum and the Forum Chairs Committee. I have also been very active in Congress. I made six promises during my election, one of which was to be accessible and accountable to you as members. Please get in touch with me via my RCN email, Sally.Bassett@rcn.org.uk, or through your branch executive or regional board. I will keep you updated through regular blogs and hope to see many of you at Congress; please come and find me! I hope 2025 will be a year of unity and strength for nursing. There are many challenges to face, and they are not getting smaller; together, we are stronger for each other and, most importantly, for patients, families and communities.