John has been a Trustee of the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing since 2010 and Chair since 2018. He became a Patron Appointed Trustee in 2023.
John is Deputy Faculty Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education) at Northumbria University and his research relates to all aspects of workforce and workforce policy. He holds a Professorial Chair in Community Nursing Workforce and Policy.
John has a background in primary and community care having been a Nurse Director in a geographically large Primary Care Trust in England. From 2001 to 2007 he was professional lead for nursing, allied health, and adult social care / social work within Northumberland NHS Care Trust. Until 2018 he was Board Nurse on NHS Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group.
John has held several senior and specialist nursing roles over the past 37 years. He is a specialist practitioner in District Nursing and was one of the first nurse consultants in the UK. In 2013 John was made a National Teaching Fellow in recognition of his work around simulation education and student assessment in 2013. He became a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2016. John has worked internationally to develop practice and higher education teachers in Thailand, China, Hungary, Ghana, Vietnam, Bahrain, Ukraine and in Grenada (West Indies).
John holds several Fellowships including Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN), Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), Fellow of the European Academy of Nursing Science (FEANS) and Fellow of the Faculty of Nursing of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland.
John was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to community nursing and community nurse education.
John is an Alumnus of the Global Nursing Leadership Institute with the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and is a member of the ICN’s Audit and Risk Committee.