A nurse leader with more than 30 years of experience across a range of sectors, including the NHS, Social Care and the independent sector, has secured a senior role at St Andrew’s Healthcare.

Julie Kerry, who has been named the mental health charity’s new Director of Nursing, has a proven track record of delivering significant quality and safety improvements.

She has worked in provider and strategic roles, both regionally and nationally. Julie has a comprehensive, system-wide view of all aspects of healthcare delivery, having worked within the Strategic Health Authority and NHS England.

Julie’s core values are demonstrated by her co-production work, which has been evidenced across her many different roles. Julie’s commitment and passion for ensuring the patient voice is heard and listened to and has transformed the way many of her former organisations have operated.

She has led the way in employing experts by experience which has had a tangible impact on quality improvement work, including reducing restrictive practice and developing co-produced leadership.

One of Julie’s career achievements is founding Making Families Count (MFC) during her NHS England tenure. The an organisation brings together families who experience complex bereavement after losing a loved one to suicide, mental health homicide, or an adult child with a learning disability who died whilst in receipt of NHS care, working with organisations to improve engagement with families . She remains a Non-Executive Director of the organisation.

Julie said: “I am delighted to be joining St Andrew’s Healthcare at a fundamentally important and exciting time for the charity. St Andrew’s has solid foundations and impressive nursing clinical experience, and together we will work to harness this and drive continuous quality improvements and innovation.

“For those who work in nursing, we know that there are national and international challenges, but we have incredible opportunities which will allow our colleagues to develop and progress their professions. It’s my role now to ensure that all our nursing staff here at St Andrew’s are aware of these opportunities and are fully supported to take them.”

Dr Vivienne McVey, St Andrew’s Healthcare’s CEO, said: “Julie impressed the senior staff and patients who were sat in the recruitment panels with her caring and compassionate attitude. She has had a long and distinguished career working within the field of mental health and we’re pleased to have her on board leading our nurses.

“As a charity we are focussed on providing consistently high quality care for our patients and we believe Julie is a passionate advocate of excellence in patient care, with a proven track record of leading on successful and complex service projects.”