Audrey Caroline Emerton, Baroness Emerton, (born 10 September 1935), is a former member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. She sat as a

crossbencher A crossbencher is a minor party or independent member of some legislatures, such as the Parliament of Australia. In the British House of Lords the term refers to members of the parliamentary group of non-political peers. They take their name fr ...

. Appointed a

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 ...

in the

1989 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1989 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

, she was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baroness Emerton, of

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

in the

County of Kent Kent is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Greater London to the north-west. ...

and of

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

in the

London Borough of Islington The London Borough of Islington ( ) is a London borough, borough in North London, England. Forming part of Inner London, Islington has an estimated population of 215,667. It was formed in 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, by the amalg ...

on 17 February 1997. She sat in the House of Lords until her retirement on 1 November 2019.

Career

She worked in the

National Health Service 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 ...

as Chief Nursing Officer of South East Thames Regional Health Authority throughout the 1980s, and is chiefly remembered and honoured for leading the programme that replaced

Darenth Park Hospital Darenth Park Hospital was a healthcare facility in Darenth near Dartford in Kent, originally founded as Darenth School. History The hospital was founded by the Metropolitan Asylums Board in Darenth near Dartford in Kent as Darenth School for ...

, a huge

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea * ...

for people with

learning disabilities Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficulty ...

, which closed in August 1988. She was President of the Association of Nurse Administrators 1979-1983 She later at on the Prime Minister's independent commission that published the

Front Line Care (Report) The Front Line Care report was a Prime Minister's independent commission on the future of nursing and midwifery in England. It was published in 2010, followed by the United Kingdom, UK Government's response in 2011. It was the first overarching gove ...

in 2010.

Affiliations

Emerton was Chancellor and Chief Commander of

St John Ambulance St John Ambulance is an affiliated movement of charitable organisations in mostly Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries which provide first aid education and consumables and emergency medical services. St John organisations are primari ...

and a volunteer with the organisation for more than 70 years. She submitted her resignation in January 2002, saying she did not wish to seek a further three years in the post when her period of office expired in June 2002 She was elected chairman of the charity Attend (formerly known as National Association of Hospital and Community Friends) in 2003. She retired as chairman in 2006 but was named vice-president, a position she still holds. She served as chairman of the Brighton Health Care NHS Trust from 1994 to 2000: the Audrey Emerton Building, an educational facility of

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust (Now disbanded), abbreviated as BSUH, was an NHS foundation trust in England. It ran two acute hospitals, the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards ...

, is named in her honour.

Arms

Honours

* She was awarded Fellowship 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 2009, giving her the

Post Nominal Letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters, or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, an academic degree, accreditation ...

"FRCN" for Life.

References

1935 births Living people British nursing administrators Crossbench life peers Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Dames Grand Cross of the Order of St John Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Life peers created by Elizabeth II Fellows of the Royal College of Nursing Mental health activists Fellows of King's College London British nurses Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 {{life-peer-stub