Registered Nurse, NHS England, England

Frances is a Registered Nurse, having qualified in 1991. Her clinical career included working within a range of medical specialities including emergency medicine, and women’s health. She later became a Risk Advisor in a large acute trust and following further study related to healthcare ergonomics at Loughborough University, became a Patient Safety Manager in 2005, specialising in serious incident investigation and complaints management. 

In 2010, Frances secured a one-year secondment to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) as part of the national response function working within a specialist team to review and act on reports of harm made to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS). During that time, she learned how reports of harm made by frontline staff can support national as well as local safety interventions and initiatives. 

In 2014, after a further period back in an acute trust she joined the National Patient Safety Team, now at NHS England, as a Patient Safety Lead. From 2016 Frances has been Head of Patient Safety (Review and Response) leading the team that review reports of harm to patients, primarily to identify new, rare, emerging, or potentially under recognised risks to patient safety. This work underpins the National Patient Safety Alerting System and supports other types of system wide safety advice and guidance for the NHS.