Dame Ruth Rosemarie Beverley, (born 1 June 1967), known professionally as Ruth May, is a British nurse. From 2019 until 2024, she served as the

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 ...

(CNO) for England and an executive/national director at

NHS England NHS England, formally the NHS Commissioning Board for England, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning si ...

and

NHS Improvement NHS Improvement (NHSI) was a non-departmental body in England, responsible for overseeing the National Health Service's foundation trusts and NHS trusts, as well as independent providers that provide NHS-funded care. It supported providers to ...

where she was also the national director responsible for infection prevention and control.

Career

May began her career with a variety of nursing roles before becoming a theatre sister at

Frimley Park Hospital Frimley Park Hospital is a large general hospital in Frimley, Surrey. It is managed by Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, and houses a private wing. History Frimley Park Hospital was opened to provide a full range of acute services to pati ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. She was subsequently acting Director of Nursing at

Barnet Hospital Barnet Hospital is a District General Hospital, district general hospital situated in Chipping Barnet, Barnet, in North London. It is managed by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital has its origins in the Wellhouse Hospital wh ...

in London before being appointed the substantive Director of Nursing and Deputy Chief Executive at Havering Primary Care Trust in North East London. In October 2005, May became Chief Executive of Queen Elizabeth Hospital,

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

, a post she held for two years. She has also been Chief Executive of Mid-Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust. She also worked as Director of Nursing at

Monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

from 2015 to 2016. From April 2016 to 2019 she served as executive director of nursing at

. She was appointed Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for England on 7 January 2019, succeeding

Jane Cummings Dame Jane Frances Cummings is a former Chief Nursing Officer for England, formerly at the Department of Health and subsequently at NHS England. In November 2013 she was interviewed about the demand for safe staffing levels in NHS hospitals and ...

. Her role came to public attention during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On one occasion during its early stages, she was driven to call for an end to the abuse of nurses by patients. She led the NHS's "Stop the Pressure" campaign, to reduce the incidence of

pressure ulcer Pressure ulcers, also known as pressure sores, bed sores or pressure injuries, are localised ulcer (dermatology), damage to the skin and/or underlying tissue that usually occur over a Bone, bony prominence as a result of usually long-term pres ...

s in hospital in-patients. In July 2024, May stood down as Chief Nursing Officer, being replaced by her deputy Duncan Burton.

Honours and awards

May has received honorary doctorates from the

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public research university in the region of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins date back to the Cambridge School of Art (CSA), founded by William John Beamont, a Fellow of Trinity College at the Unive ...

in 2009, the

University of Suffolk The University of Suffolk is a public university situated in Suffolk and Norfolk, England. The university was established in 2007 as University Campus Suffolk (UCS), founded as a collaboration between the University of East Anglia and the Unive ...

in 2016 and from

Coventry University Coventry University is a Public university, public research university in Coventry, England. The origins of Coventry University can be linked to the Coventry School of Art and Design, Coventry School of Design in 1843. It was known as Lancheste ...

"for her contribution as a national leader of nursing" in 2019. She became a Fellow of the

Queen's Nursing Institute The Queen's Institute of Community Nursing (QICN) is a charity that works to improve the nursing care of people in their own homes in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It does not operate in Scotland, where the Queen's Nursing Institute Sc ...

in 2020. 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

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those ...

for services to nursing, midwifery and the NHS.

Personal life

She was born in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

but has lived in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

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 ...

for most of the 21st century She has a daughter who was eight at the time of May's appointment as CNO. May is

dyslexic Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writ ...

, having only been diagnosed as an adult in 2018.

References

External links

*
2018 video
of May speaking about 'Stop the Pressure', on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Ruth British nurses British nursing administrators Living people Place of birth missing (living people) NHS Chief Professional Officers 20th-century Welsh women 21st-century Welsh women 1967 births Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire British women nurses People with dyslexia