Dame Christine Joan Beasley, (born 13 June 1944, in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England) is a British nurse and

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

healthcare administrator.

Career

Beasley was educated at

Westcliff High School for Girls Westcliff High School for Girls, also known by its initialism WHSG, is a selective grammar school and academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name tra ...

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

, Essex. She began training in 1962 at the

Royal London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and sp ...

and worked as a staff nurse. During most of the 1970s she took a career gap to support her young family, returning to work as a district nurse in Ealing in 1979. In the 1980s/early 90s she took on senior roles at the

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

and Riverside Health Authorities, before moving into wider regional nurse director posts at North Thames Regional Health Authority. She has held a range of senior posts with a broad experience of policy development, leadership and general management including Head of Development with the Directorate of Health and Social Care and Director of Nursing, Human Resources & Organisational Development with the NHS Executive. She established the London Standing Conference, engaging nurses across the capital in leading service improvement and contributing to improvements in clinical practice across the country. Beasley was

Chief Nursing Officer Nursing management consists of the performance of the leadership functions of governance and decision-making within organizations employing nurses. It includes processes common to all management like planning, organizing, staffing, directing an ...

for England from October 2004 until 2012. She was a strong supporter of the lead provided by nurses in tackling infections of patients in hospitals caused by Methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus'' in the early 2000s. She sat on the Prime Minister's independent commission that published the Front Line Care (Report) in 2010. She retired from the civil service in June 2012. Since 2012 Beasley has been a Non-Executive director at the NHS Trust Development Authority, a trustee of the Burdett Trust for Nursing since 2011 and also chair of the London region of

Health Education England Health Education England (HEE) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. Its function is to provide national leadership and coordination for the education and training within the health and public ...

. She chaired the

Florence Nightingale Museum The Florence Nightingale Museum is located at St Thomas' Hospital, which faces the Palace of Westminster across the River Thames in South Bank, central London, England. It is open to the public five days a week, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00am until ...

and the council of the

University of Buckingham The University of Buckingham (UB) is a non-profit private university#United Kingdom, private university in Buckingham, England, and the oldest of the country's six private universities. It was founded as the University College at Buckingham (U ...

. She was made a fellow of the

Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union and professional body in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916 as the College of Nursing, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Eliz ...

in 2012. In 2020, her continued professional activity included advocacy for improvements to nurse training and retention. Her opinion was that the many nurse vacancies that caused difficulties in dealing with the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

epidemic were caused by a lack of investment in nursing for over a decade. These included reductions in training places and removal of training bursaries in 2016 as well as poor retention of trained nurses including those from EU countries once Britain decided to leave the EU in 2016.

Honorary Doctorates

Beasley was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield station, Sheffield railway station, whil ...

in 2008 and an Honorary Doctorate of Health from

Plymouth University The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

in 2010.

Affiliations

* Honorary Professorship in Nursing,

Thames Valley University The University of West London (UWL) is a Public university, public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860 when the Lady Byron School was founded, ...

in 1997 * Governor,

* Fellow of the Queen's Nursing Institute * Trustee of

Marie Curie Cancer Care Marie Curie is a registered charitable organization, charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which provides hospice care and support for anyone with an illness they are likely to die from, and those close to them, and campaigns for better su ...

Damehood

She was appointed Dame Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(DBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

Personal life

Beasley is the mother of three sons. Christine Beasley profile
, florence-nightingale-foundation.org.uk; accessed 14 November 2015.

References

External links

Biodata for Christine Beasley (archive)
nationalarchives.gov.uk; accessed 14 November 2015.
Profile
NursingTimes.net; accessed 14 November 2015.

Sheffield Hallam University website; accessed 14 November 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Beasley, Christine 1944 births Administrators in the National Health Service British nursing administrators Civil servants in the Ministry of Health (United Kingdom) Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Living people People associated with the University of West London People from Essex Fellows of the Royal College of Nursing British nurses