Angela Wood
As the Executive Director of Nursing & Midwifery, Angela is responsible for ensuring the delivery of high-quality nursing and midwifery services across all areas, including district general hospitals, community hospitals and community services.
Her role involves strategic planning, policy development, and implementation to enhance patient care, clinical oversight, and staff engagement. Angela has a responsibility for patient safety, quality, and patient experience, alongside safeguarding, infection control and nursing education, workforce and regulation. Angela’s directorate aims to support the organisations nurses and midwives to achieve excellence in healthcare delivery, reduce health inequalities, and improve the lives of the local population through innovative practices and continuous professional development.
Angela's influence on nursing practices is evident through her strategic initiatives, leadership in quality improvement, and dedication to enhancing patient care and staff development. Her efforts have led to measurable improvements in healthcare delivery and organisational efficiency.
Achievements to Date
Angela has a proven track record of driving significant improvements in healthcare systems and patient outcomes. At BCUHB, she has successfully reduced nursing vacancies by implementing various recruitment and retention initiatives, including the establishment of an Internationally Educated Nurses (IEN) Recruitment Programme. She secured funding to increase nursing establishments and improve patient safety as part of Wales Nurse Staffing Act reviews. Angela led the development and implementation of a matrix dashboard for measuring and reporting quality indicators and standards of care, and redesigned governance arrangements for complaints and incident reporting, increasing compliance with national standards.
Angela's leadership in launching nursing engagement initiatives, awards, and campaigns has significantly enhanced staff visibility and communication. Her influence extends to national policies, including the introduction of the Registered Nursing Associate role in Wales, demonstrating her ability to drive change and improve healthcare practices on a broader scale.
Angela has also held several key leadership roles in various healthcare organisations across the UK, demonstrating her ability to drive significant improvements in patient care, staff engagement, and organisational efficiency.
Her past roles include leading pandemic responses, improving CQC ratings, and implementing innovative patient care strategies across various NHS trusts.
At NHS England, Angela worked with Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and NHS England/Improvement locality teams, providing oversight and advice to ensure the delivery of high-quality care during the transition.
Angela coordinated the Rotherham Hospital NHS Foundation Trust response to the pandemic, proactively instigating infection prevention and control practices to support patients and staff, resulting in reduced staff sickness and full compliance with Care Quality Commission (CQC) and NHS England/Improvement standards. She reviewed and increased nursing establishments across the Trust, successfully recruiting to all registered and unregistered nurse vacancies. Angela undertook the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw (SYB) ICS Chief Nurse Workforce lead role, developing a nursing workforce expansion programme that increased and coordinated international recruitment, nurses returning to practice, and placement expansion.
Seconded by NHS England to a Trust in double special measures and rated inadequate, Angela provided significant support, knowledge, and experience. Angela developed and implemented a revised exception reporting methodology for safe staffing and mapped an organisational change programme to utilise nursing associates in a coordinated and sustainable workforce solution. She reviewed monitoring and reporting of patient harm, implementing, and establishing a patient harm reduction strategy that delivered a 50% reduction in grade 2 and 3 Pressure Ulcers. Angela effectively provided leadership and direction to the site operations and nursing teams during OPEL 3/4 days, improving flow and supporting the Trust to achieve the 12th most improved Accident & Emergency (AE) delivery system in the country.
Angela's leadership style is a blend of approachability, strategic vision, commitment to quality improvement, effective governance, innovation, inspiration, collaboration, and compassion.