Past Chairs

I have always had an interest in Respiratory Care, most probably due to my eldest son, who is now nearly fifty, having asthma as a child.                                   

My nursing career started in Intensive Care in Bristol. When my sons arrived we had moved south and I started to work in general practice. 

Working in general practice, running asthma clinics, was a great joy and I found it very rewarding helping people change their lives with correct medication. I felt very supported with plenty of educational opportunities and support from local practice nurse groups. I became a trainer for the Respiratory Training centre at Warwick, led by the amazing Greta Barnes. I later had the opportunity to move back into secondary care as the first Respiratory Nurse Specialist at Portsmouth University Hospital. I enjoyed the challenge but missed the peer support and educational opportunities in primary care.  

Following conversations with Allen and Hanbury, now Glaxo, a grant was offered for a three year period to set up a support group. I approached some fellow nurse specialists and we formed the first committee. We had a lot of help from the Turner Agency and within a year we had a constitution and were planning our first conference. The security of financial stability was a great asset and were able to finance the conference over a weekend stay with excellent speakers at no cost to the delegates.  

The early days of ARNS were very exciting and with so much feedback from the nurses was very encouraging. The website was created and we started to be recognised by other organisations and our opinion sought. Personally, during this time, I also became a Trustee for the BLF and was elected to the committee of the BTS. I could network and it helped the progression of ARNS.  

I, now in my retirement, feel so much pride when I see the work ARNS is now carrying out. I thank my committee members who worked hard and all the Chairs who have maintained the progression of the support group. 

As I reflect on my time as chair of ARNS, I can honestly say it was such a rewarding experience.

I recognise that I was fortunate to work with team of very supportive specialist respiratory nurses, all passionate about developing services to support the best care for patients and who could see the advantages of having a nursing voice on a national platform such as ARNS. Chris Fehrenbach, was instrumental in the development of ARNS as an organisation and working alongside her in Portsmouth gave me a unique insight into how an organisation like ARNS would not only lead to improving patient care but also in providing support and specialist education to nurses.

I trained as a nurse over 40 years ago and I never thought that I would be in a position to influence national strategy or consult on national guidelines. Chairing ARNS gave me this opportunity and for that I am both grateful and proud. When I took on the role, I had no previous experience of being a chair person, so it was a massive learning curve. I learnt very quickly that I could not do it alone, it was important to work closely with the vice chair Sam Prigmore and the wider respiratory network. I developed strong relationships and friendships and I am grateful to say that many of these continued long after my tenure ended and throughout my career. I was also inexperienced in dealing with pharmaceutical companies in securing sponsorship for ARNS and initially felt a little out of my depth, but I found the experience very positive, with representatives from pharmaceutical companies  providing useful feedback on how to navigate this field. 

 I found chairing ARNS an empowering experience and hope that those who hold the title in the future will continue to advocate for high quality patient care and nurture other nurses, liberating their expertise, talents and leadership skills.

I remember the first ever Respiratory Nurse Specialist meeting well. At time the majority of respiratory nurse specialists were based within secondary care and I thought that such meetings would be such a great forum for us to network!! How right I was!! I have made so many friends across the nations through ARNS!

I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the ARNS committee, and was honoured to have chaired the committee from 2007-2009. I followed in footsteps of some amazing nurses, who established ARNS and helped to grow its reputation and credibility.

I gained hugely professionally from being part of the committee and ultimately Chair of ARNS. It opened many doors for me from being part of the shadow NSF for COPD, being involved in writing the CPPD and Asthma Outcome strategy and being asked to be a Trustee of the British Lung Foundation.

My highlights of being chair include;

• Securing financial support from multi pharmaceutical companies. ARNS had been initially funded through an educational grant from Allen and Hanburys, but this ceased in around 2005. This resulted in the need to secure funding to keep ARNS going. I have very fond memories of meeting multiple pharmaceutical companies with Liz Walker!!
• The change in funding resulted in the need to write annual reports and business plans highlighting why we needed funding, how it would be used and what ARNS had achieved in the previous year.
• At a similar time, we changed secretariat. The BTS took over the secretariat role providing the use of the BTS offices for the committee meetings and enabling close working relationships.
• Organising and chairing the annual conference was hard work, yet fun, with the result being great conferences, with fantastic feedback.
• Being involved and influencing National  programmes of work.
• Working closely with our pharmaceutical sponsors was enjoyable. This influenced my personal professional development and offered opportunities to support and develop ARNS. 
• And finally but probably most importantly, having opportunity to demonstrate the value and uniqueness of nursing.

I was approached in early 1997 to be a part of a group of respiratory nurses invited to set up a national organisation to support and promote respiratory nurses working in specialist roles. From my very first meeting where the first task was to name the association, to present day, I have gained both professionally and personally from my involvement with ARNS. After becoming the treasurer on that very first committee and serving for 5 years, I rejoinied the committee as vice chair in 2009 and served as Chair from 2011 – 2013.

Working as a Respiratory specialist nurse in the late 1990’s was an isolating experience with links to other nurses coming from educational groups and medical groups, and from the start of being part of ARNS I met so many inspirational nurses who had set up and developed services across the UK and had so much to share to enable others to develop.

I gained so many friends from being on the committee and was privileged to be able to learn from many and then as time progressed used my knowledge to support others.

I represented ARNS on national committees, including the National strategy for COPD and asthma in 2011, a time that developed my understanding of governance and policy and has since given me confidence to continue involvement in guideline groups locally and regionally.

Supporting the organisation of the conferences with the committee was exciting and empowering.

My time as a member and Chair of ARNS was a whirlwind of experiences and during my time as Chair I was able to continue to support the development of the organisation and of its media including the initial website. Supporting the organisation of the conferences with the committee was exciting and empowering.

I developed so much as a person and a specialist nurse from my involvement with ARNS and would not be where I am today without its support.

It has been an honour.

I was Chair of the Association of Respiratory Nurse Specialists (ARNS) between 2013-2015.  Welcome to the Association of Respiratory Nurse Specialists - YouTube

I initially joined ARNS to upskill and network with others. I then wanted to give more to the organisation and decided to leave my comfort zone and join the Committee, which finally led to becoming Chair (which was truly above what I’d originally intended!). I loved my time as Chair, representing Respiratory Nurses across the UK. This was a fantastic honour and gave me some great opportunities to develop, meet some incredible people and learn aspects of good governance to which I wouldn’t have been exposed. The Committee was an awe-inspiring group of nurses from across Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales, who taught me a lot (made me laugh a lot, too!), and I always think of all of them and what they taught me.

I like to shake things up, and as a team, we all worked so hard to advance the reputation of both Nursing and ARNS. Several key issues at the time allowed us to strengthen the ARNS brand and reputation of the organisation, which we did by increasing our media presence and supporting campaigns with other organisations like the BLF. Additionally, during my chairmanship, ARNS sponsored the Respiratory Category at the Nursing Times Awards, where Nursing Teams were recognised for their innovative care.

We were also involved in many national high-profile works, including advising Public Health England on guidance, being the spokesperson for nursing on the National Asthma Deaths report, and representing nursing on all parliamentary reports.

In summary my reflections were – being a member of ARNS was a gift. Being chair was a bit of a whirl wind, juggling and learning so much, but I loved it.

I reflect on my eight years of being involved in the ARNS leadership as a time of positive evolution both for the association and myself. I remain a proud member and continue the mission to influence leadership and change for respiratory nurses and their patients. 

During my terms as both Vice-Chair and Chair we undertook a governance review of ARNS and led the transition to a non-for-profit organisation. This and the introduction of the sub-committees I can see has continued to thrive and demonstrates success both for activity and succession planning. I love hearing how ARNS grows from strength to strength, I’ve been a firm believer that it is an incubator for leaders within the speciality and beyond.

Being a chair of ARNS was helpful in my own personal career and my current UK role within the Royal College of Nursing is testimony to that. I continue to have an honorary Consultant Nurse post within the respiratory speciality and represent at a national, regional and local level. Now I have embarked on a doctorate journey with an international and advanced level nursing focus, I hope that I can continue to contribute to be an advocate for respiratory nursing as well as my wider portfolio.        

I initially joined ARNS as my Respiratory Manager was in the organisation and I was new to working in Respiratory and wanted to link with as many people as possible to enhance my own skills and develop as both a nurse and a leader.

I moved to Berkshire and set up the respiratory service there, with ARNS helping along the way as I was able to seek help and advice from a variety of skilled professionals nationally.

I was a committee member for 10 years before I became Chair and represented ARNS on national committees, supported the development of the Pulmonary Rehabilitation work and helping to write a paper on the socioeconomic deprivation and outcomes of PR, working with NICE on the COPD guidelines and attending Parliament to discuss smoking cessation. I was also involved in various national strategies and organisations to give the voice of the respiratory nurse. This was an amazing opportunity to be at the table with people who I had cited in papers I had written and, although I was in awe, I was welcomed, and this was wonderful.

Being part of the ARNS family was amazing and leaving was hard as it was part of my life for so many years, but I have progressed professionally and confidently due to the work, support and exposure being in ARNS gave me.

I remember attending my first ARNS conference as a delegate in 2015 (in Belfast) and after that, really didn’t look back.  I was successfully voted onto the Executive committee the next year and saw how the organisation changed and developed during that time. Having a primary care background, it was nice to showcase the different areas where respiratory nurses have a major influence.

I took over as Chair of ARNS in January 2021, when we were in the middle of a global respiratory pandemic.  The respiratory profession endured so much during these times and the organisation was forced to adapt to new ways of working. 

Highlights for me during my time as Chair:

• Bringing EBS into the fold as our secretariat and raising the governance within the organisation
• Commencing the Year in Review document to highlight all our activities
• Starting the regular E-shot bulletins to members
• Paid membership – although this might sound like a bad thing, this was to ensure, following a review of GDPR, that we had current and relevant contact and communications with people
• Fully funded bursary conference places for members
• The renaming of ARNS to encompass the expanding respiratory nursing workforce to become The Association of Respiratory Nurses

I absolutely loved my time as chair of ARNS and felt a limb was missing when I stood down in May 2023 but felt happy to be leaving the organisation in very safe hands and to now watch it grow from strength to strength.