The Founders

Brenda trained at St Bartholomew’s Hospital School of Nursing and has spent most of her clinical career in London. She was a Ward Sister at Barts, Senior Nurse Manager at Guys and she then joined the Occupational Health Unit at the Royal Free Hospital where she was Nurse Adviser for the Medical Students Health Service.

She was appointed as an Independent Member of Hertfordshire Police Authority in 2003, a position she held until the Authority’s abolition in 2012. During that time she represented the national body on the reference group for Inspections of Police Custody and the Strategic Health and Safety Forum of the Association of Chief Police Officers. She served on the Home Office Police Advisory Board for England and Wales Substance Misuse Review Working Party. Brenda was a Non-Executive Director of Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust which delivers community health services in Hertfordshire.

Brenda was invited to become a Trustee Governor of the Voluntary Board of St Bartholomew's Hospital, London in 2019. This is an independent charity dating back to Henry VIII, regulated by the Charity Commission and it supports patients and staff. Brenda is also an active member and Trustee of the Brighton Beachside Rotary Charitable Fund

During the COVID pandemic Brenda was appointed as a COVID 19 Vaccinator in the Sussex Community NHS Trust Mass Vaccination Programme.

Brenda is a Lifetime Foundation Warden and the Foundation Past Master of The Company of Nurses. Brenda chairs the Company’s associated charity – The Company of Nurses Charitable Trust.

Julia is a lecturer at the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, Kings College London.

Julia has worked in London throughout her career, training firstly at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and then at The Royal London Hospital. She has worked in clinical practice, in both Adult and Mental Health Services, within hospital and community environments and has fulfilled a range of clinical practice development and academic roles, notably at Barts as a clinical teacher and nurse tutor in the St Bartholomew’s School of Nursing. Julia also held education roles at The Royal London, The Royal Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital and in the education department of the Royal College of Nursing.

Julia has held a number of senior leadership and management roles within the Faculty. She is currently the Chair of the Fitness to Practice Committee, a role overseeing professional behaviours within the undergraduate and post graduate student community. This role also includes participation within the College wide activities for enhancing students opportunity for successful academic study and performance. Within the Faculty Julia has led a range of educational opportunities at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. The primary focus being healthcare leadership development and workforce resilience and well-being for healthcare teams.  Recognising the importance of inter-professional working in healthcare environments Julia has contributed to the multi-professional education programme within the University. Julia is a qualified coach and mentor and continues to provide coaching and supervision for senior leaders and teams in healthcare environments.

Julia served as Master of the Company 2022-23

Fran trained as a Registered Nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital School of Nursing following which she qualified as Registered Midwife. Fran’s clinical career has included experience across primary, secondary and tertiary care as a District Nurse, Clinical Nurse Specialist in breast cancer and as a clinical and operational manager in various Trusts in London.

She also spent two years within the charitable sector managing a large community workforce delivering end of life care. Most recently Fran has worked in London for NHS Improvement as a Quality Improvement Director which involved working closely with London trusts to support their quality agenda.

During her career she successfully completed a first and second degree, the latter focusing on cancer nursing. As part of her studies she obtained a scholarship to travel to Canada to research their approach to patient engagement and experience in cancer care.

Fran has worked in the NHS since training and continues to work as a Non -Executive Director at CSH Surrey where she Chairs the People Committee and is Deputy Chair of the Quality Committee.

Fran is a Founder Warden and was Master of The Company of Nurses from October 2020 to May 2022. She is a trustee of The Company of Nurses Charitable Trust.

Shirley trained as a general nurse at St Bartholomew's Hospital School of Nursing and went on to qualify as a Midwife at Cambridge Maternity Hospital.

Shirley returned to general nursing at the Royal Free Hospital before returning to St Bartholomew's Hospital firstly, as a Staff Nurse and then Sister in the Oncology Unit.

She trained as a Health Visitor at the North East London Polytechnic and worked as a Health Visitor in Hackney before moving out of London to work in Hertfordshire.

During Covid 19 as part of the Covid 19 Vaccination Programme Shirley worked as a vaccinator.

Within her local community, Shirley works as a Volunteer and is also a member of the Volunteer team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.

Shirley is a Founder Warden and Court Assistant of The Company of Nurses.

Rt Hon Anne Milton served as Member of Parliament for Guildford from 2005 – 2019, stood as an Independent Candidate at the 2019 general election and also served as a borough councillor from 1999 – 2004. She now gives consultancy advice to organisations working in the further education sector.

She spent all her nursing career working in London having trained at St Bartholomew’s Hospital School of Nursing, where she also worked as a research nurse working in respiratory medicine. She was a District Nursing Sister in Hackney, London, pioneered a scheme to discharge people early from hospital and started a support scheme for people newly diagnosed with cancer. Before entering politics Anne gave medical advice to social housing providers including the City of London.

Anne had a number of roles as an MP in Parliament both in Opposition and Government including: sitting on the Health Select Committee; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health; Government Deputy Chief Whip (Treasurer of Her Majesty’s Household); Minister of State for Skills and Apprenticeships; and Minister for Women. In 2015 she was appointed to the Privy Council.

Anne chairs a Social Value Recruitment Board for PeoplePlus; is an associate for KPMG; Chairs The Purpose Health Commission; and works for a number of organisations involved in skills, further education and apprenticeships. Anne is also a Trustee for Surrey University Students Union.

Anne is a Founder Warden and currently Renter Warden of the Company.

Janet was until recently Clinical Services Manager in a nursing and residential home in Dorset. Janet trained at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital School of Nursing and after qualifying worked in the Coronary Care Unit and then as a Research Nurse in the Endocrine Unit at Barts.

Janet married an Army Officer and life in the military entailed moving many times within the UK and Europe. Janet has worked in several places including the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading and Frimley Park in Camberley. Janet has gained experience in a wide range of nursing specialities including Accident and Emergency, Gynaecology, Outpatients and Elderly Care.

During the pandemic Janet worked as a vaccinator and remains on the NMC register.

Janet is currently Chair of the Membership Committee.

Helen worked as a Health Visitor for children with special needs for Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and is now retired. She trained at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital School of Nursing where she worked as a Staff Nurse. After completing her midwifery training in Sussex, she returned to Barts and became Sister of the Oncology Unit.

Helen then studied at the South Bank University to qualify as a Health Visitor and has worked as such (both generic and specialist) in several Community Trusts in London whilst completing a degree in Professional Practice (Nursing) at Greenwich University.

Helen became a Freedom To Speak Up Guardian for Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust until June 2020.

From June 2020 she joined the NMC’s Emergency Covid 19 Register.
For six months her role involved writing comprehensive reports on adults with special needs who had died of Covid. By April 2021 she became a Covid 19 Vaccinator. She remains on the Emergency Register.

Helen is a Founder Warden, Past Master of The Company of Nurses and a Trustee of The Company of Nurses Charitable Trust.

Liz trained at St Bartholomew’s Hospital School of Nursing and subsequently worked at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel as a Relief Sister. Having completed the post-graduate course in Urological and Renal Nursing at St Peter’s Hospitals in Covent Garden, she became a Clinical Teacher at the School of Nursing.

Following a period of time working in Toronto, Liz returned to St Pancras Hospital, responsible for in-service training and also working in the community as a continence advisor.

After moving to Brighton in 1986, she worked as Education Officer for a children’s charity, teaching Fire Safety and Burn Prevention in schools and has written a children’s book highlighting the dangers of scalding. As part of this work, Liz was Chair of a committee actively involved with the rehabilitation of paediatric burns survivors from the Peanut ward at Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead. She continues to work as a volunteer in her local community and with the U3A.

Liz is a lifetime Foundation Freeman, a Past Master and a Trustee of the Company of Nurses Charitable Trust for the Company of Nurses.