International Committee

The RCN International Committee advises Council on issues that affect nurses around the world. You can find out more about the role and remit of the International Committee by reading the terms of reference or read more about the RCN's international work. 

You can use this page to keep up to date with the International Committee's activity. 

Key messages, Sheilaby Sobrany, RCN President and International Committee Chair:

I was pleased to start our 8 February meeting held at RCN HQ in London with good news. First to welcome our new Student committee member, Catherine Bethell, and also to congratulate Director of RCN England Patricia Marquis on being elected Vice Chair of the European Federation of Nurses. 

Following up actions from our last meeting, we discussed the upcoming Congress came up and I was pleased to note that there were two agenda items relating to international work (support for internationally educated nursing staff and immigration regulation) and other items that could have an international focus. Committee members will be at the event to make sure international considerations are covered in the debates. 

Meanwhile committee members and staff have been busy contributing their expertise to the international nursing agenda. Prof Judith Ellis OBE, Dr Nichola Ashby have provided guidance to the Global Sustainable Nursing Force project. Along with Anna Argyrides, International Policy Manager, they have reviewed the Humanitarian Framework which Anna will update us on at the next meeting.

We now have a planning group working on the agenda for a summit on the international nursing workforce – thanks to Karen Sanders, Jason Warriner, Felicia Kwaku, Dr Agimol Pradeep and Kathy Sienko for agreeing to work on this. Felicia Kwaku and Dr Agimol Pradeep are also preparing an academic paper on the nursing diaspora.

For our first agenda topic, Dr Agimol Pradeep updated the committee on a challenging situation for Keralan nurses. It is estimated that around 1,000 Keralan nurses paid significant sums of money to travel to the UK to work for private employers in domiciliary care. However, upon arrival they had found they did not have the correct sponsorship and were unable to take up employment. This left them reliant on food banks and unable to support themselves. The Home Office had been contacted but had said they were unable to assist.

The Keralan nurses can’t join the RCN as they do not work under a registered nurse, however, the RCN and Unison has provided some guidance and support. We’re considering what more support we can provide and the Northern Region will be bringing a fuller update about they have done for the nurses to our next meeting.

The key to this issue is making sure that international nurses are aware of the RCN and the advice we can provide before travelling to the UK. We will work to provide more webinars aimed at international nurses, making sure they are informed about potential challenges. We recognise the essential contribution they make to healthcare in the UK, so improving our visibility internationally could help those wanting to nurse here, do so successfully.

Our Professional Lead for Infection Prevention and Control Rose Gallagher, spoke to us about infection prevention, including antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR is the third leading underlying cause of death globally, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable.

The RCN has worked with several European organisations working in the area, providing specialist advice to ensure the nursing voice is influential in driving forward the agenda. Our own infection prevention and control (IPC) network has around 2,500 members and our IPC learning modules include the first virtual lab to be used in an educational setting.

It was great to get our 2024 workplan confirmed at this meeting. We have three key areas of work this year.

We’ll continue to work on the launch of the Academy of International Nursing and the development of our international strategy (look out for member consultation on this later in the year). Our policy influencing will focus on immigration, ethical recruitment and global health policy. And finally, we’ll continue to grow our strategic alliances and stakeholder relationships to make sure our voice is heard in all the right places and has the power and respect it deserves on the international stage.

The academy is already making ground with the drafting of its agenda underway now. This will be widely consulted on with stakeholders and members and will also have a strong link to the EDI strategy which is also under development.

We’re delighted that the Academy of International Nursing’s Associate Director role has also been advertised – we look forward to receiving some high-quality applications.
Our next item was the Committee’s web pages. If you want to get to know your International Committee members, our bios are now updated, so take a look and do reach out to say hello if you have any issues you wish to discuss with us.

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) always has a place on the agenda, and this time we discussed the next ICN meeting, which will be in Stockholm in 2025. Representatives from the RCN will also be attending an ICN forum in Stockholm in March this year to discuss safe staffing and workforce issues, we look forward to hearing what they learned.

As a matter of due diligence, we continually assess the benefits of our membership of organisations such as the ICN. The International Policy Manager joined us to present a paper outlining proposed criteria for this assessment. It’s essential that our membership remains cost effective and that we are able to capitalise on opportunities to promote our own services such as the RCN Institute of Excellence.

There’s a huge amount of international work happening in the RCN and our meetings only ever have time to address priority issues, but do keep an eye on the website and the President’s blog to learn even more about our international work.

Sheilabye Sobrany, Chair

January 2023 - December 2024

Sheila trained and worked in the National Health Service (NHS) and has almost three decades of experience in the NHS, the independent sector and social care. She is passionate about effective and safe patient care, championing nurses and nursing. She has been a committed, loyal member of the Royal College of Nursing since 1999 and completed her term of office on the RCN London Board as a North East London Inner member at the end of 2022. 

With 30 years of nursing experience in various clinical settings and academia, Sheila has transferable skills and experience in organisational development and leadership. She is acutely aware of the current challenges facing the NHS, social care and independent sector, which have impacted the effective delivery of patient/client care. 

Working with the RCN and other stakeholders, Sheila's key priorities as president are:

• Fair Pay significantly above inflation rate
• Protecting the ‘Nurse’ title
• Reducing economic, social, and psychological pressures on nurses post-pandemic era
• Reducing racism, misogyny, bullying, harassment, and discrimination of healthcare workers.

Sheila's leadership qualities –
She is a skilled strategic influencer, a good communicator and an educator. As a senior lecturer at the University of East London, Sheila works with nurse academics and NHS stakeholders to promote an excellent learning experience for aspirant nurses.

As an RCN Board member, Sheila continuously raised issues on behalf of nurse members with the Mayor of London and NHS Trusts in partnership with other board members. She founded networks for nurse academics, students, and nursing alumni in London (HAREDIN), to support nurses and students to thrive and improve their well-being when they wanted to leave nursing; this work led Sheila to receive the Vice-Chancellor and President Award for Inclusive Practice at the University of East London 2022. Sheila reverse mentored high-profile stakeholders to create a positive, long-lasting, safe working culture for nurses and students.

Sunday Babanumi, Nursing Support Worker member

February 2022 - December 2025

Sunday attended the Polytechnic Ibadan in Nigeria where he studied marketing. He has a lot of experience in team building, and has worked with a number of agencies including Meridian Healthcare Ltd. Sunday completed in-house training with Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust in July 2019 with a certificate in Health and Social Care. Sunday has been an RCN member since 2016 and a member of the UK Nursing Support Workers Committee since January 2021. He is also an accredited Safety Rep and Steward. Sunday is also an activist and campaigner for the RCN. 

Catherine Bethell, Student member

January 2024 - December 2025

Catherine is currently 3rd year BSC (Hons) Nursing student at London South Bank University (Croydon). In 2012 she completed an Access to Health Diploma at Milton Keynes College. She joined Northampton General Hospital Trust in 2012 as a Healthcare Assistant on their Stroke ward and is currently working as a Bank Health Care Assistant for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Trust where she has worked for the last 9 years. She is a Cleveland Clinic Scholarship recipient, a Community Ambassador for LSBU and a Student Ambassador for University College London Hospital.

Sue Campbell

February 2022 - December 2025

Sue first worked overseas as a Clinical Nurse Tutor in a rural training school in The Gambia. After returning and studying for a Masters in Public Health, Sue went to work in Khartoum, Sudan. Here she managed community health worker community programmes and ensured health centres had the resources and personnel to provide good quality services. In 1999 Sue started a country programme for GOAL in Uganda, whilst here she also responded to the volcanic eruption in Goma, DRC. Since her return to the UK in 2012, Sue has been working with The Open University as as Associate Lecturer teaching public health and international development courses.

Professor Judith Ellis OBE

February 2022 - December 2025

Professor Judith Ellis OBE has been a member of the RCN for 44 year and has held various senior nursing positions in the UK, including as Director of Nursing and Workforce Development at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, Dean/ Pro Vice Chancellor for Health at London South Bank University and Nursing Officer for Quality at the UK Department of Health. She has been involved for 22 years in the improvement of nurse education and multidisciplinary paediatric care in low-income countries, and when a Council member and then Interim Chair of the Nursing and Midwifery Council played a vital role in considering the international need for nursing regulation and the transferability of nursing registration. Judith retired from her role as Chief Executive of the medical Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) in 1998 to allow her to concentrate on her role as Chair of the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET), a charity that establishes partnerships between health workers around the world, recognizing the mutual benefit to health workers and health systems of engaging in international activity. Her 6 year tenure as Chair of THET ended in December 2021, but as an Honorary Advisor for THET and Honorary Fellow of the RCPCH, Judith is continuing to advise on international nursing issues and to actively engage each week in supporting beleaguered nursing colleagues in Myanmar and to support paediatric leadership development in Africa. 

Professor Daniel Kelly OBE FRCN

February 2022 - December 2025

Professor Kelly has been a member of the Board of the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS) for several year and was elected President 2015 - 2017. He has gained international experience of nursing and healthcare in India, Canada, Australia and the US, as well as building networks from travelling widely in Europe as part of his EONS role. Recent experience has also been gained in cancer and palliative care education at Bethlehem University in Palestine. He was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 2013 and was made an RCN Fellow in 2016.

Felicia Kwaku OBE

February 2022 - December 2025

Felicia has over 30 years' experience as a cardiothoracic/intensive care nurse. She has been a member of several committees and groups including the Nigerian Nurses Association UK and the NMC Professional Standards Advisory Group. She is deputy chair of the CNO (England)'s BME Strategic Advisory Group. She has previously traveled to St Kitts on a study tour and Enugu State, Nigeria to educate and deliver cardiac surgery. 

Megan Parry

February 2022 - December 2025

Megan is an experienced Paediatric Nurse and has a wealth of international experience in global health, community engagement and nursing education. She has worked across five continents and lived in five countries over the last decade equipping her with cultural competence. Megan is also a member of GLoMHI (Global Health and Migration Initiative) which is committed to informed and critical action to promote social justice and health equity. She is currently based in Toronto, Canada and manages projects that aim to strengthen nurse capacity across the continents of Africa and Asia. 

Trevor Peel

February 2022 - December 2025

Trevor qualified as a nurse in 1973, worked in health services until 1987, then joined RCN staff for 12 years. His career then covered posts in the Cabinet Office and as a prison governor. Trevor served previously on RCN Council, and represented the RCN on the National Pensioners Convention executive committee. He has also held a number of charity trustee positions. 

Dr Agimol Pradeep BEM

March 2023 - December 2026

Agimol completed her nursing studies in India. She has been working in NHS care settings since 2001. She is also a philanthropist to promote Black and Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) organ and stem cell donation awareness. Agimol was successful in achieving funding from the British Renal Society in 2011 to complete her PhD on the topic of “Increasing organ donation in the North West South Asian community through targeted education.” Her PhD implemented a positive impact by understanding South Asians' attitudes and their health behaviours and beliefs and implementing targeted education to change their beliefs and attitudes towards organ donation. She has been working closely with NHSBT in her volunteer capacity since 2010 and remains as a steering group member for the Community Investment Scheme. Her contribution to the community in promoting the organ donation message was recognised nationally, and she received the British Empire Medal (BEM) in 2018 and Nurse of the Year in 2015 from the British Journal of Nursing.

Agimol initiated the campaign in 2020 to support Internationally Educated Nurses (IEN’s) working in the UK as unregistered practitioners. She played a key role in implementing the Supporting Information from Employer (SIFE) pathway by the NMC in February 2023, to enable the IEN’s to complete their UK registration and remain as the NMC’s Expert Advisory Group member of the English Language Review Group.

Jane Salvage

March 2023 - December 2026

Jane is passionate about helping nurses and midwives to become articulate, effective and influential in all aspects of health and social care, education, research and policy. Her commitment to social justice, women’s rights and high quality health services has been the main driver of her unusual career. Jane's best-known book, The Politics of Nursing (Heinemann 1985), was a wake-up call to nurses to speak out on sexism and racism, and she continued this advocacy in her roles as editor-in-chief of Nursing Times. 

Jane was chief nurse at the World Health Organization (European Region and Headquarters). She worked on the Prime Minister’s Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery in England (2010), and the Willis Commission on Nursing Education (RCN 2012). From 2016-2021 she was programme director of the International Council of Nurses’ Global Nursing Leadership Institute. She has designed and directed nursing policy leadership programmes for the World Health Organization; the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care; and in many countries including Belize, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and the Government of India/WHO. She co-authored Triple Impact (2016), the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health report on nursing worldwide which led to the Nursing Now campaign and the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. She works as an independent nursing and midwifery leadership consultant, and as visiting professor at Kingston University, London. 

Kathy Sienko

March 2023 - December 2026

Biography to follow.

Jason Warriner

March 2023 - December 2026

Jason is Director of Care, Quality and Governance at Cranstoun, a charity providing services tackling substance misuse. Across the course of his career Jason has worked within the NHS and charity sector at clinical, operational and strategic levels. He has held a number of roles within the RCN including Vice Chair of RCN Congress and Chair of Chairs for RCN Professional Forums, and in 2017 received the RCN Award of Merit. Jason’s international experience includes work in South Africa, Abu Dhabi and Germany.