RCN Council members
The people who make up the RCN's governing body
Bejoy Sebastian, President
Bejoy Sebastian is a senior nurse working in critical care at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He has previously held a number of positions at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Hailing from Kerala, he arrived in the UK in March 2011 after finishing his nursing studies at Kottayam Medical College.
He was the Chair of the International Nursing and Midwifery Association network UK, where he has raised the profile of internationally educated nursing staff, helping them thrive in their careers and identifying the barriers they face in the workplace. He was also the founding General Secretary of the Alliance of Senior Kerala Nurses. He is an active volunteer for DKMS and with the help of Upahaar UK has organised numerous stem cell donor registration drives from global majority backgrounds to reduce the health inequities faced by them.
He began his role as RCN President in January 2025 and will serve for two years.
Professor Alison Leary MBE FRCN, Deputy President
Alison Leary MBE FRCN FQICN is a Professor of Healthcare & Workforce Modelling at London South Bank University and a Senior Consultant, World Health Organization Human Resources for Health Group. She works on the mathematical modelling of healthcare systems and workforces around the world, with her research focusing on safety critical industries/work. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and Queens Institute for Community Nursing. She was awarded an MBE in 2019 for modelling safety in the English Football League. She registered with the NMC in 1996 and worked in haematology, oncology, palliative and pre-hospital care. She is a Trustee of the British Association for Immediate Care.
Carmel O'Boyle, North West, Chair of Council
Carmel is a nurse practitioner and has recently completed an MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice. Studying for this qualification reinforced Carmel’s passion for nursing as a lifelong journey of continuous improvement with patients at the heart of every action.
Carmel worked for many years as a healthcare assistant, developing a love for care work, using this experience and her pilgrimage to Lourdes as catalysts to pursue her nursing degree. As a registered nurse, she worked in Trauma and Orthopaedics, nursing pre- and post- op patients, supporting them through recovery and discharge. Carmel is an accredited RCN Steward and has served as at branch and Board level in the North West. In these roles, she has worked with members to support with trade union and professional matters, organising conferences and events and ensuring members’ voices are heard as individuals and in policymaking. She is committed to valuing and celebrating nursing, striving for excellence in the profession and in the RCN.
Carmel is a proud mum to one son, plays the saxophone and drums, and enjoys singing in her church and kitchen – no matter the audience reception. Before working in healthcare, Carmel worked as a licensee and business owner.
Andrea Walters, Northern, Honorary Treasurer
Andrea Walters is a neurosurgery nurse with an interest in Parkinson’s disease and dementia. She joined the RCN as a student member in 2017, qualifying as a nurse ‘late in life’ at the age of 47 after a career in accounting. Since joining, she has volunteered in many roles at the RCN, including as a Student Ambassador and current Steward and Branch executive member. She also acted as a picket supervisor during Fair Pay strike action.
She is a member of several RCN Forums, namely Neurosurgical, Pain & Palliative Care and Older People’s Forums, which inform her practice and maintain her knowledge of progress in research and policies in these areas, contributing to her own development as a nurse.
Andrea is passionate about safe staffing and ensuring patients are treated with dignity and receive the best possible outcomes through safe, effective care. Across her volunteer roles, she works to represent the whole nursing workforce, to enact good governance and ensure the direction of the RCN meets our members goals.
Andrea lives in Yorkshire with her husband, two children and their cat. She is autistic, as are her two children, and she has hypermobile EDS. Andrea is a Buddhist, and enjoys meditation, swimming and e-books, as well as playing MMORPGs like Dungeons and Dragons with her family.
Natalie Brooks, Eastern, Vice Chair of Council
Natalie works as a Registered Adult Nurse. She qualified as a nurse in 2018, before which she worked as a healthcare assistant. Since qualifying, she has worked in an emergency medical admissions unit as an adult nurse, including a secondment to a Band 7 role to support Internationally Educated Nurses. She is currently studying a pre-Master’s research programme with NHS England and the University of East Anglia, researching retention programmes for nurses. She hopes to use this work in future clinical academic roles focussed on improving the nursing profession and the working environments for nurses.
Natalie has volunteered in several roles as a member of the RCN, serving as a Student Ambassador during her studies, and in branch and Board level roles in the Eastern Region. She is also an accredited RCN Steward. In these roles, she has worked with local members to amplify the value and voice of nursing in the Region, making significant changes and growing membership. In 2024, Natalie was awarded the Award of Merit in recognition of her work on EDI in the Eastern Region and her contributions to the pay campaigns of 2022 and 2023.
Natalie is passionate about building a strong College through engagement with the RCN’s diverse membership, prioritising EDI to support and encourage all members to participate in delivering a better future for nursing.
Natalie lives on the Norfolk coast, and enjoys spending her free time reading, visiting the local beaches, and watching football with her family. She also enjoys going on adventures around UK with her dogs and partner.
Neil Thompson, East Midlands
Neil has been an RCN member since 1980, working for almost 30 years as a District Nurse in Nottinghamshire, returning from retirement on the 40th anniversary of starting his career. He has extensive experience contributing to the RCN at branch and Board level in Nottingham and the wider East Midlands. He has served as a Steward since 1986 and a Health and Safety Rep since 1993. He has been involved in in the staff side of his local NHS organisations since 1987, serving as a staff side chair and secretary several times, before becoming a full time Rep and Staff Side Chair in 2009, the role he works in today. Through his career, he has held several roles including as the Vice Chair of the Professional Executive Committee for a PCT and Staff Governor for a newly-formed Foundation Trust. Neil is committed to tackling injustice in the workplace, providing support to those who need it, and building healthy working relationships through on discussion, debate and mutual respect.
In his personal life, Neil is a proud father of three children, two of whom are adopted and have additional needs, and he enjoys baking bread, spending time at his allotment or singing and playing guitar with local folk bands and his church’s worship band.
Jennifer Caguioa MBE, London, Chair of Remuneration Committee
Jeni trained as a nurse from the Philippines and came to the UK as an adaptation nurse in 1999 at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital. She has worked in the NHS for the last 25 years within various specialities including Haematology, Oncology, Research, Practice Development and for more than a decade as Lead Nurse for Vascular Access at King’s College Hospital NHS FT. She is passionate about staff support especially for newly arrived overseas nurses. This work led to a national role within NHS England. As the first Filipino Chief Nursing Officer’s BAME Nurse Advisor, she worked on the COVID19 Action plan to address its disproportionate impact on our ethnic minority workforce. With a special interest in leadership and advocacy, she was seconded as Head of Global at Florence Nightingale Foundation and led in the delivery of the FNF online leadership development programmes which is bespoke for internationally educated nurses and midwives and its first Global scholarship programme.
As International Recruitment and Ethnic Minorities Nurse Advisor at NHS England, she led on work related to the outcomes and experiences of our international workforce by scoping and strengthening international nursing and midwifery associations (INMAs) across England, enhancing their collective voice and influence to impact positive change on the system. She has worked with the National Guardian on raising the profile of our overseas workforce and their challenges on speaking up in their last two national FTSU conferences. She is currently working as a Senior Clinical Manager at NHS England with a focus on implementing the NHS Long term workforce plan, specifically on attraction and retention of our workforce.
Anne Campbell, Northern Ireland, Chair of Governance Committee
Anne has been an active member of the RCN since she became a registered nurse. She has acted as a Steward and a Health and Safety Representative, as well as holding the positions of Secretary and Chair of the RCN Belfast Branch. She has also been an RCN Northern Ireland Board member.
She is a learning disability nurse and has worked in practice and management posts in the field of learning disability. Anne is passionate about ensuring that people with a learning disability have safe, effective and compassionate nursing care and support in community and general hospital environments.
Anne has a very strong commitment to networking and was a founder member of the Learning Disability Nurses Network in Northern Ireland and a steering group member of the National Network of Learning Disability Nurses. She was also a committee member of the RCN Learning Disability Forum. Membership of the networks and forum has enabled her to share, develop and disseminate best practice and influence learning disability nursing and policy at local, regional and national levels.
Anne is aware of the challenges of the current political and financial climate and understands the real pressures that nurses’ encounter on a daily basis while sharing the passion for ensuring the delivery of high quality, needs led nursing services for the population.
As the Northern Ireland member on the Council, she aims to represent the interests of the members and actively contribute to ensuring good governance and the realisation of the RCN's strategic plan.
Leanne Patrick, Scotland
Leanne is a community nurse, specialising in Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence. She currently serves as the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Inequalities Lead in NHS Fife. In 2023, Leanne was awarded the title of Queen’s Nurse by the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland.
In 2022, Leanne completed an MSc and has subsequently published papers on subjects including female nurses who die by suicide, the role of nurses in GBV care and freedom of expression in nurse education. She is currently writing a book on feminism in nursing, exploring the history of nursing by connecting the low pay and status of nursing as a majority female profession to the broader issue of the undervaluing of women and their labour.
Leanne’s nursing career has been guided by a commitment to understanding and improving women’s experiences of healthcare, both as patients receiving care and healthcare professionals delivering it. She is dedicated to raising the status of the nursing profession through improved pay, retention and progression, and building a shared understanding between nursing colleagues about the value of the profession.
Leanne lives in central Scotland with her husband and two daughters, and enjoys hiking in the beautiful Scottish hills and countryside.
Sally Bassett, South East
Sally started her nursing career as a nursing auxiliary and became a state-enrolled and then a registered nurse. Working in intensive care and general medicine as a ward sister and then as a clinical teacher. Sally’s senior career has involved working in management, clinical effectiveness, governance, policy, leadership, education and research. She has been a primary care trust director of nursing and the independent nurse on a CCG governing body, a deputy chief nurse in a strategic health authority, and a chief nurse in a charity providing NHS care. As a nurse advisor at the Department of Health, she led the development and implementation of the community matron policy. As a director in the Forensics Practice at PwC professional services, she was involved in the investigation review of Mid-Staffordshire, Winterbourne View, and the Keogh Reviews. Sally is currently a senior lecturer and subject coordinator at Oxford Brookes University. She was awarded her doctorate in nursing in July 2024 for her research into the Perspectives and explanations of successful executive nurse leadership on English NHS Provider Trust Boards.
Sally has been a career-long member of the RCN, contributing in many ways, including paying campaigns as far back as the early 1980s and, more recently, as a voting volunteer. She is the Oxfordshire Branch secretary and has been chair of the Nursing and Management Leadership Forum and the Forum Chairs Committee. Sally has actively contributed to successive Congresses in debates such as Protect the Title Nurse and facilitated successful learning and well-being events. As chair of the Forum Chair committee, she led the establishment of the Forum World Café event and was the member lead for the review of forums and networks. Sally has led and contributed to several professional projects, including the revisions to the definition of Nursing and Nursing principles in 2023 and the publication of a position statement on Clinical Supervision in 2022.
Sally and her extended family have long been associated with the South East Region. She lives in Oxfordshire with her family, dogs, and chickens.
Ashleigh Taylor, South West
Ashleigh qualified in 2003 from the University of Southampton with BN Hons and, discovering a passion for education, achieved a PGCE in further education. Ashleigh’s background is in emergency care, frailty, out of hours, and, more recently, place-based urgent care.
Ashleigh is a qualified advanced nurse practitioner and is currently accrediting under the HEE Advanced Practice portfolio programme.
Ashleigh is passionate about delivering first-class evidence-based nursing care. He wants to ensure that, where possible, all who wish to can access and join the nursing profession. He believes in supporting all colleagues to develop and grow their careers to become the best they can be.
Tristan Griffin, Wales
Tristan has worked as a nurse across multiple clinical specialisms in NHS and independent settings and has served in clinical and staff roles in the British Army in the UK and abroad. His nursing career has also included nursing education, as a lecturer and programme director for a postgraduate nursing course. He continues to work in military roles and currently works in assurance and service inquiries.
Tristan has been a member of the RCN since 2009 and has held roles as a Learning Rep and as a member of the Welsh Board. He was runner up for RCN Nurse of the Year in 2014.
Tristan lives in south Wales with his wife, who also works as a nurse, and enjoys running, the outdoors and travelling. He volunteers in several roles, including with a charity supporting individuals with learning disabilities, as a school governor and as a member of his church parish council.
Olga Leach-Walters, West Midlands
Olga Leach-Walters is the WRES Nursing Advisor to the Chief Nursing Officers across Birmingham and Solihull (BSol), where she leads the BSol Global Majority Nursing, Midwifery, and AHP Board. In this key role, she drives anti-racism, equity, and leadership initiatives to support career progression and inclusion for Global Majority colleagues.
Olga's clinical background includes working as an Endoscopy Nurse at University Hospitals Birmingham. Her educational journey is international and diverse. She trained at the Dental Auxiliary School in Jamaica, studied at DeVry University and George Brown College in Canada, the College of Chaplaincy International University & Seminary in the USA, and the University of Worcester in the UK, where she was awarded an Erasmus Scholarship to Switzerland.
She holds several leadership and advisory positions in the West Midlands. She co-chairs the UHBREACH staff network, supports inclusive practice through the Trust’s WISE Council, and contributes to the organisation’s cultural review, anti-racism, and anti-bullying work. She also takes part in the Trust’s reciprocal mentorship programme.
A committed RCN member, Olga has served as a Steward, Health and Safety Representative, Chair of the South Birmingham Branch and Chair of RCN West Midlands Board. She is passionate about engaging the Global Majority community and fostering inclusive environments.
In March 2025, she was honoured with the Midlands High Sheriff Award for her contribution to trade union work. Olga continues to serve as a chaplain and is actively involved in charity work across Africa and the Caribbean.
Mark Jarnell, Nursing Support Worker
Mark has been an active member of the RCN since 2020, when he started working as a Healthcare Support Worker. He is an accredited RCN Steward and has held roles at both branch and Board level in the North West.
Mark works in mental health settings in community and hospital environments, and is passionate about safe, effective and compassionate care for people in crisis. Alongside this, he also works across the country as a self-employed event medic, and as a MIMMS-qualified Medical Operational Commander.
Mark has previously served as a local councillor and as a member of the national executive of a political party. This experience informs his approach to tackling the daily pressures encountered by the nursing family and reinforce his passion for ensuring the delivery of high quality, needs led nursing services for the population.
As the Nursing Support Worker member on the Council, he aims to represent the interests of the members and actively contribute to ensuring good governance and the realisation of the RCN's strategic plan. Alongside his work, Mark enjoys going to the theatre, dining out and being out in nature.
Linda Bailey, Chair of Congress (Non-voting member of Council)
Linda began her nursing career in 1982. She worked as a staff nurse in acute hospitals, and as a health visitor before moving into Public Health. She retired from the NHS in 2019 having worked as a Consultant in Public Health in Wales for six years. Due to Covid she returned to work in March 2020, retiring again in 2022. She is currently looking for a part time nursing post.
Since joining the RCN in 1987, at various times she has been a steward, branch officer, member of the Agenda Committee, member of the Public Health Forum Steering Committee, Council member for London and Nurse Treasurer of the RCN.
