Head of Patient Safety Policy, NHS England and NHS Improvement
Dr Hester Wain is the Head of patient safety policy for NHS England
Hester has worked in the NHS since 2004, in both the provider and commissioning sectors. She previously had a more academic career as a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University College London working on the Human Genome Project.
Her role is to inspire, motivate and influence the NHS to help develop patient safety improvements across healthcare, to reduce harm to patients and staff. With over 10 years’ experience using quality improvement science to implement and embed sustainable changes, Hester leads on patient safety policy within the areas of safety culture, primary care, and inequalities and supports other implementation work with patient safety specialists and partners.
In 2018, Hester graduated with the Nye Bevan award from the NHS Leadership Academy and used this experience to develop her knowledge and understanding of diversity and the impacts of inequalities on both staff and patients and how these can be reduced. Hester is passionate about diversity and is a member / ally supporting several staff networks. As a qualified coach/mentor Hester supports a number of NHS staff to develop their talents.
Alongside her career, Hester has over 20 years’ experience as a healthcare charity trustee and is the co-vice chair of Samaritans, as well as being a listening volunteer since 2018. Hester is married, with two horses, four cats and an assortment of poultry and likes to spend time in Burgundy sampling the local produce.
of verifiable CPD
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