Doctor of Science
A global leader in healthcare who has significantly advanced the role and impact of nurses.
Dame Yvonne Moores qualified as a nurse and midwife in Southampton. While working as a ward sister, she attended a King’s Fund nurse leadership programme that changed the course of her career.
She went on to hold nurse leadership positions in London and Manchester before being appointed Chief Nursing Officer for Wales and, six years later, the corresponding position in Scotland. In both roles, she focused her team on increasing the influence of nurses and developing clinical practice through nurse strategies agreed with Government.
Returning to England, she was appointed to concurrent roles of Chief Nursing Officer and Director of Nursing for the NHS. At the NHS, she held the added brief for Quality and kept in touch with clinical developments through a nurses’ Practice Advisory Group. She also continued her practice of working as a staff nurse for a week each year in a hospital or community setting.
Much was achieved for nursing and midwifery during Dame Yvonne’s seven-year tenure at the Department of Health, including securing ministerial commitment to the first ever NHS Quality Framework. This led to the introduction of Clinical Governance, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE – today the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) and the Commission for Health Improvement, subsequently renamed the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
With strong ministerial backing she was able to extend the role of nurses, including nurse prescribing and the creation of NHS Direct.
On retirement, she was appointed Pro-Chancellor and Chair of the Council of the University of Southampton. During her six-year term, she was Deputy Chair of the Committee of University Chairs and a member of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. She then served as a Pro-Chancellor at Bournemouth University for eight years.
Appointed in 2004 as the first female Non-executive Director of the National House Building Council, Dame Yvonne went on to Chair the Trustees of the Council’s pension fund for 11 years.
As part of her longstanding commitment to global health, she served as Chair of WHO’s Global Advisory Group on Nursing in Geneva, assisting in the creation of the Poole Africa Link that fosters health care and education initiatives in South Sudan and Uganda. She also served as Vice Chair of Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Since its inception in 2001, she has been an international advisor to the Princess Srinagarindra Foundation (Thailand) which selects the World Nurse of the Year.