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Managing healthcare without a government: it’s time to step up, says NI chief nurse
When Charlotte McArdle was appointed as CNO in Northern Ireland she never imagined she would have to do the job without a health minister. Now she wants nurses to help to transform the care service

When Charlotte McArdle was appointed as CNO in Northern Ireland she never imagined she would have to do the job without a health minister. Now she wants nurses to help to transform the care service
- Absence of government at Stormont for the past two-and-a-half years has stalled plans to transform the health and social care service
- RCN warned in April that there were 2,500 nurse vacancies across the system – around 12% of the workforce
- Professor McArdle says nurses have the right skills to play a leading role in reforming healthcare
Charlotte McArdle, Northern Ireland’s chief nursing officer, can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to join the nursing profession.
‘My mother tells me I’ve always wanted to be a nurse. She says I used to play with dolls and syringes, and
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