Alison Leary

Last updated

Alison Leary

Alma mater St Thomas' Hospital
King's College London
University of London (PhD)
Scientific career
Institutions Millwall F.C.
London South Bank University
Thesis Quality of life in patients receiving platinum based chemotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer  (2006)
Website www.lsbu.ac.uk/about-us/people/people-finder/prof-alison-leary

Alison Leary MBE FRCN is a Chair of Healthcare & Workforce Modelling at London South Bank University. [1] and a Senior Consultant, World Health Organization Human Resources for Health Group. She works on the modelling of private and public healthcare systems. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and Queen's Nursing Institute.

Contents

Early life and education

Leary studied natural sciences and graduated in 1986. [2] She worked in engineering and biomedical sciences in the National Health Service for ten years before studying a Diploma of Higher Education in adult nursing at St Thomas' Hospital. [2] [3] In 1997 she was awarded a Master's degree in biomedical science at United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals. She became a registered nurse (RN) in 1996. [4] [5] She earned a Master's degree in haemato-oncology and doctoral degree in at the University of London in 2006. [6] [3] She has since completed an advanced study program in data science and leadership at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Research and career

Leary spent most of her clinical and analyst career in cancer, and worked with the National Cancer Action Team from 2005 to its dissolution in 2013 as part of the Lansley reforms. She was subsequently appointed a Chair in Healthcare and Workforce Modelling at the London South Bank University in 2014. [7] She is interested in the complexity of healthcare and ways to use non-linear mathematics to model hospital staffing and outcomes. [3] She has argued that the healthcare workforce should be evaluated based on outcomes, rather than outputs. This could be achieved through improving staff working conditions and pay, as well as streamlining immigration processes for shortage occupations. [8] Leary believes that better planning could greatly improve the healthcare system, focussing on better understanding demand and risk. [8] [9] She has questioned the protection of the job title of nurse, emphasising that it is important to use it only for the highly trained specialists within the National Health Service. [10] She has previously held the position of Chief Nursing Officer to St John Ambulance.

She has supported the idea of bringing more men into nursing to mitigate for the staff shortfall, but could exacerbate current equality issues within the nursing profession. [11] Leary studied the gender pay gap in nursing, and found that male nurses reached higher paying posts more quickly and were overrepresented at higher pay grades. [11] [12] [13] [14] In 2016 she was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship to study the use of big data in high reliability organisations. [5] [15] This position allowed her to compare healthcare with other safety critical industries in Switzerland and the United States of America. [16]

Leary served as the clinical lead at Millwall Football Club. [3] [17] In this capacity she helped the football club deploy emergency healthcare, and studied what roles are required for the most effective response team. [18] Her research on the effectiveness of medical teams is part of Millwall F.C.'s new approach to healthcare services, which can accommodate disasters as well as minor injuries, spectator safety and primary care. [19] [18] This work was included in the Sports Safety Ground Authority's 2018 guide, which sets benchmarking standards in British football grounds. [18] She stood down after 23 years. She is a member of the TED Whitehall Women expert group.

She has served as non-executive director of several charities, including the National Lung Cancer Forum for Nurses, the Millwall Community Scheme. [20] and the British Association of Immediate Care

Awards and honours

Selected publications

Her publications [1] include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal College of Nursing</span> British union for nurses

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron until her death in 2022. The majority of members are registered nurses; however student nurses and healthcare assistants are also members. There is also a category of membership, at a reduced cost, for retired people.

St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, formerly called St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, is based in Tooting in the London Borough of Wandsworth, and serves a population of 1.3 million across southwest London. A large number of services, such as cardiothoracic medicine and surgery, neurosciences and renal transplantation, also cover significant populations from Surrey and Sussex, totalling about 3.5 million people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NHS Scotland</span> Publicly-funded healthcare system in Scotland

NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland, supported by seven special non-geographic health boards, and Public Health Scotland.

Health and Social Care (HSC) is the publicly funded healthcare system in Northern Ireland. Although having been created separately to the National Health Service (NHS), it is nonetheless considered a part of the overall national health service in the United Kingdom. The Northern Ireland Executive through its Department of Health is responsible for its funding, while the Public Health Agency is the executive agency responsible for the provision of public health and social care services across Northern Ireland. It is free of charge to all citizens of Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Nursing in the United Kingdom has a long history. The current form of nursing is often considered as beginning with Florence Nightingale who pioneered modern nursing. Nightingale initiated formal schools of nursing in the United Kingdom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The role and perception of nursing has dramatically changed from that of a handmaiden to the doctor to professionals in their own right. There are over 700,000 nurses in the United Kingdom and they work in a variety of settings, such as hospitals, health centres, nursing homes, hospices, communities, and academia, with most working for the National Health Service (NHS). Nurses work across all demographics and requirements of the public: adults, children, mental health, and learning disability. Nurses work in a range of specialties from the broad areas of medicine, surgery, theatres, and investigative sciences such as imaging. Nurses also work in large areas of sub-specialities such as respiratory, diabetes, neurology, infectious diseases, liver, research, cardiac, and stoma. Nurses often work in multi-disciplinary teams but increasingly are found working independently.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is an NHS trust based in London, England. It is one of the largest NHS trusts in England and together with Imperial College London forms an academic health science centre.

Healthcare in England is mainly provided by the National Health Service (NHS), a public body that provides healthcare to all permanent residents in England, that is free at the point of use. The body is one of four forming the UK National Health Service as health is a devolved matter; there are differences with the provisions for healthcare elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and in England it is overseen by NHS England. Though the public system dominates healthcare provision in England, private health care and a wide variety of alternative and complementary treatments are available for those willing and able to pay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Health Service</span> Publicly-funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom

The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom, comprising the National Health Service in England, NHS Scotland and NHS Wales. Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland was created separately and is often locally referred to as "the NHS". The original three systems were established in 1948 as part of major social reforms following the Second World War. The founding principles were that services should be comprehensive, universal and free at the point of delivery—a health service based on clinical need, not ability to pay. Each service provides a comprehensive range of health services, provided without charge for people ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom apart from dental treatment and optical care. In England, NHS patients have to pay prescription charges; some, such as those aged over 60, or those on certain state benefits, are exempt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust</span>

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is an NHS hospital trust in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Marie Rafferty</span> British nurse

Dame Anne Marie Rafferty FRCN is a British nurse, academic and researcher. She is professor of nursing policy and former dean of the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care at King's College London. She served as President of the Royal College of Nursing from 2019 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BMI Healthcare</span> Private healthcare provider

BMI Healthcare was an independent provider of private healthcare, offering treatment to private patients, medically insured patients, and NHS patients. As of 2019, it had 54 private hospitals and healthcare facilities across the UK, with headquarters in London. In December 2019, it was acquired by a parent company of Circle Health and was replaced by Circle Health Group in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Stevens</span> British health manager and civil servant

Simon Laurence Stevens, Lord Stevens of Birmingham is Chair of Cancer Research UK and an independent member of the House of Lords. He served as the eighth Chief Executive of NHS England from 2014 to 2021.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust runs University Hospital Coventry and the Hospital of St. Cross situated in Rugby, Warwickshire. The trust works in partnership with the University of Warwick's Warwick Medical School.

Professor Dame Jessica Lois Corner DBE FMedSci is a British nurse, academic, educator and author. She is currently the Executive Chair of Research England. She was previously Professor of Cancer and Supportive Care, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Nottingham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Private healthcare in the United Kingdom</span>

Private healthcare in the UK, where universal state-funded healthcare is provided by the National Health Service, is a niche market.

Kay Fawcett OBE is a British nurse who is recognised for over 40 years service in the NHS and public health in the UK. Since the early 2000s Fawcett has held many senior positions across these services and her contribution has been recognised in the Honours List and by an Honorary degree from the University of Derby. She currently lives in Nuneaton

Pam Smith is a Professor of Nursing in the School of Health in Social Science at the University of Edinburgh. Her research relates to emotions and care within the nursing profession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Salvage</span>

Jane Salvage(born 6 August 1953) is a British nursing policy activist, teacher, and writer. She has been described as "a hugely influential nurse leader who has contributed to advancing nursing in a wide number of roles throughout her career".

The Nursing & Health Care School, University of Glasgow, is a speciality area within the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing in Glasgow, Scotland. The School has offered a degree course in Nursing since 1977, introduced under the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the time, Professor Edward McGirr.

Faith Gibson is a British nurse who is Deputy Chief Nurse for Research, Nursing and Allied Health and Professor of Child Health and Cancer Care at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her research investigates cancer care for children and young people. She was awarded the International Society of Paediatric Oncology Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 Alison Leary publications from Europe PubMed Central
  2. 1 2 "Alison Leary | Patient Safety Congress 2019". patientsafetycongress.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Contributor, N. T. (4 September 2018). "Alison Leary". Nursing Times. Retrieved 4 September 2019.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. "Professor Alison Leary". The Queen's Nursing Institute. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Welcome to London Higher Europe". www.londonhigher.eu. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  6. Leary, Alison (2006). Quality of life in patients receiving platinum based chemotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer. ucl.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of London. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.439330. Lock-green.svg
  7. University, London South Bank. "Prof. Alison Leary". www.lsbu.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Alison Leary: The healthcare workforce should be shaped by outcomes, rather than outputs". The BMJ. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  9. "Staffing the NHS: Why we need to invest in the community workforce | Reform". reform.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  10. Leary, Alison (8 November 2017). "What is a nurse? Baffling number of job roles leaves patients and bosses confused". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  11. 1 2 "Why men might be the answer to the staff shortfall | Nursing in Practice". www.nursinginpractice.com. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  12. University, London South Bank. "New study reveals stark gender pay inequality in UK nursing workforce". www.lsbu.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  13. Jones-Berry, Stephanie (19 February 2019). "Gender pay gap: male nurses disproportionately represented in profession's top jobs". rcni.com. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  14. "BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Family secrets, Who was Mary Macarthur? Poet Fatimah Asghar, Gender pay inequalities in UK nursing, Why do men still earn more in professions dominated by women?". BBC. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  15. "alison.leary.2016 | Winston Churchill Memorial Trust". www.wcmt.org.uk. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  16. "Hope is not a plan: Can healthcare in the UK learn from other safety critical industries?". WCMT. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  17. "Professor Alison Leary awarded MBE". www.millwallfc.co.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  18. 1 2 3 4 University, London South Bank. "LSBU's Professor Alison Leary awarded MBE in Queen's Birthday Honours List 2019". www.lsbu.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  19. "Welcome to LSBU Open Research : LSBU Open Research". openresearch.lsbu.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  20. "Alison Leary | National Lung Cancer Forum for Nurses". www.nlcfn.org.uk. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  21. Middleton, Jenni (5 June 2014). "Welcome to the first ever Nursing Times Leaders supplement". Nursing Times. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  22. Ford, Steve (11 July 2014). "Nurses recognised on list of 'inspirational women' in healthcare". Nursing Times. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  23. "A celebration of 70 influential nurses and midwives from 1948 to 2018" (PDF). NHS. Retrieved 6 September 2019.