Ruth May

Ruth May

Ruth May is a British nurse and NHS trust manager in the National Health Service, and is now Chief Nursing Officer for England.[1][2]

After various nursing roles she worked as a theatre sister at Frimley Park Hospital.[2] She was subsequently acting director of nursing at Barnet Hospital then director of nursing and deputy chief executive at Havering Primary Care Trust.[2]

She was chief executive of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, and chief executive of Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust.[2] She also worked as director of nursing at Monitor from 2015 to 2016.[2][3] From April 2016 to 2019 she served as executive director of nursing at NHS Improvement.[2][3]

She was appointed Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for England on 7 January 2019,[1] succeeding Jane Cummings.[4] Her role came to public attention during the 2019-20 COVID-19 pandemic. On one occasion during its early stages, she was driven to call for an end to the abuse of nurses by patients.[5]

She leads the NHS's "Stop the Pressure" campaign, to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers in hospital in-patients.[2][6]

She was made an Honorary Doctor of Science by Anglia Ruskin University in 2009,[7] and received an honorary doctorates from the University of Suffolk in 2016[8] and another Honorary Doctorate of Science, "for her contribution as a national leader of nursing", from Coventry University in 2019.[9]

She was born in Wales but lived in Colchester for most of the 21st century.[8] She has a daughter who was eight at the time of her (May's) appointment as CNO