Congratulation to Amanda Pithouse, Chair of Chief Officer Nurses group, who has been appointed as new Chief Nursing Officer at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
Amanda is currently Chief Nursing Officer at North London Mental Health Partnership, but will take over from CNWL’s current Interim Chief Nurse, Helen Willetts, who will return to her plans for an extensive career break for travelling.
Amanda qualified as a mental health nurse in 1993 and spent much of her early clinical career in adult acute mental health in both inpatient and community services, holding a number of nursing leadership positions within South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.
She also has an extensive academic background, completing the prestigious Florence Nightingale Foundation Leadership Scholarship, an MSc in Leadership and Healthcare Improvement at London Southbank University, and is also a trained Improvement Advisor from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
Amanda helped to lead Barnet, Enfield and Haringey NHS Trust from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good’ at their 2019 Care Quality Commission inspection and again in February 2022.
Amanda said:
“I’m thrilled to be joining CNWL at such an exciting time for mental health and community services. I have worked closely with many people from the Trust over a long period of time and have always been impressed by what I have seen. I’m passionate about improving staff experiences and making sure there are clear pathways for career progression and professional development across nursing in order to drive up standards of care for patients and families."
Claire Murdoch, Chief Executive of CNWL said:
“We’re delighted to be welcoming Amanda to the CNWL family. Her track record on improving quality and showing compassion speaks for itself. Amanda’s current role at North London Mental Health Partnership focuses on improving quality and safety of services and making sure service users and their families receive the best possible care, which are the exact values and behaviours we look forward to seeing her underline and take to a new level here at CNWL”.
Claire continued:
“I’d also like to express my heartfelt thanks to Helen Willetts who stepped in to help us for an interim period of time whilst we recruited to the Chief Nurse post permanently. Helen is a brilliant nurse, leader and colleague to work alongside and I wish her all the best for her global travels!”