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

• 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