Birthday Honours for our director of nursing and associate medical director
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust’s chief nurse, Professor Janice Sigsworth, has been awarded a CBE in the 2018 Birthday Honours, while associate medical director, Dr Bob Klaber, receives an OBE.
Professor Sigsworth joined the Trust as director of nursing in 2008 from the Department of Health where she was deputy chief nurse for England. She began her nursing career 38 years ago at Charing Cross Hospital, now part of the Trust, working as a student nurse and, following qualification, staff nurse. She has also worked clinically at University College London Hospital and the Royal Free London, with her clinical practice focusing on respiratory medicine and the management of long term conditions.
Professor Sigsworth has honorary professorial appointments with King’s College London, Buckinghamshire New University and Middlesex University. She is also a member of the NMC Nursing and Midwifery Pre-Registration Advisory Boards, special Trustee of the General Nursing Council for England and Wales Trust and co-chair of the National Safe Nurse Staffing Facility Steering Board and is chair of the Shelford Chief Nurses Group.
Commenting on the award, Professor Sigsworth said:
“I’m thrilled to receive this recognition of my work and, I believe, the success of nursing and midwifery at Imperial. I’m so proud of our hospitals and staff – and, of course, our nurses, midwives and care assistants especially. We have made huge progress in developing advanced practice, more and more of our nurses are involved in or leading research and we are at the forefront of digital transformation to support better patient care. At the same time, we have kept our focus on the absolute essentials of nursing and midwifery – ensuring we offer the best possible care, with kindness, compassion and dignity, to all our patients, their carers and families.
“I am also a long-standing advocate for improving staff experience as well as patient experience – for me, the two are inextricably linked. It continues to be a challenging time for the NHS and for nursing and so it’s wonderful to have a chance to highlight what we have achieved as a profession in the year which not only celebrates 70 years of the NHS, but also 200 years of Charing Cross Hospital.”
Dr Bob Klaber studied at Cambridge University and Barts and The London School of Medicine before completing his postgraduate training in paediatrics in hospitals across London. He was appointed as a consultant at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in 2009, working with hospital, community and primary care colleagues as well as children and parents to pioneer integrated models of care for child health. He has also been at the forefront of education and leadership developments at Imperial and across north west London area. He was appointed to a new associate medical director role at the Trust in 2015 to develop and lead an organisation-wide quality improvement approach.
Commenting on the award, Dr Klaber said:
“It’s already a great privilege to lead the improvement programme at a place like Imperial, working alongside a wonderfully diverse range of colleagues in the Trust and beyond. It means we’re able to see the real impact our teams are having on patient care, staff experience and, increasingly, population health by working collaboratively and with greater clarity and focus. The Birthday Honour is a wonderful surprise and reflects the outstanding work of the colleagues, patients and communities I am fortunate enough to work with. It makes me even more determined to keep working hard to improve how we provide health and care within our fantastic NHS.”
Imperial College Healthcare chairman, Sir Richard Sykes, said:
“These honours are richly deserved. Both Janice and Bob embody the values that make the NHS so special and so it’s especially appropriate for these awards to be made in the run up to celebrations for the NHS’s 70th anniversary.”
Imperial College Healthcare chief executive, Professor Tim Orchard, said:
“Janice has played a leading role in her profession and in the Trust over many years – her impact and achievements are clearly recognisable in both. And it’s great to see another of our clinicians recognised for outstanding work in quality improvement. We’re all extremely proud of both of them and delighted that they have received this important recognition.”
