Becoming a chief nurse: what I’ve learned in the first year

Taking on a senior leadership role in the wake of a pandemic is not easy – find out how staff development and well-being drives one chief nurse’s approach

Working at a London hospital during the second wave of COVID-19 helped Jo Haworth realise she was ready for her next big career challenge.

‘I had to step up at short notice and be the chief nurse for a few weeks,’ says Ms Haworth, who at the time was deputy chief nurse at King’s College Hospital, where she had worked since 2018.

Choosing where to take on the role of chief nurse

‘It opened my eyes to what this kind of role was like. It gave me the appetite to want