A NURSE from Barnsley who was made a dame in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours is retiring from the medical profession after 32 years.
Professor Dame Hilary Chapman, the chief nurse at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation, has announced she will retire in August.
Colleagues have described Hilary as ‘one of the best chief nurses in the NHS’ and an ‘inspiration to nurses and midwives.’
Hilary, of Cawthorne, said: “The decision to retire has been a hard one because there is no better career than nursing and to lead such a fantastic team of nurses and midwives here at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals is an absolute privilege and joy.
“I have only been able to achieve the things I have because I have worked with incredible teams throughout my working life.”
Hilary is one of the country’s most prominent chief nurses and co-led the development of the Safer Nursing Care Toolkit which is used in hospitals throughout the UK to help determine safe nurse staffing levels on acute wards.
She trained in Sheffield in the 1980s, and worked at the Northern General Hospital as a staff nurse in cardiothoracic surgery and a critical care sister.
Prior to returning to Sheffield in 2006 as chief nurse, she was chief nurse at Kettering General Hospital and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust.
At Sheffield, she regularly undertakes at least one clinical shift every month.
As well as being made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s New Year Honours, Hilary was awarded a CBE for her services to nursing in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours in 2012. She is a visiting Professor at Sheffield Hallam University, an honorary Doctor of Medicine at the University of Sheffield and became a Deputy Lieutenant of South Yorkshire last year.
Sir Andrew Cash, chief executive of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We have been very fortunate to have one of the best chief nurses in the NHS supporting our trust, ensuring we deliver the best possible nursing and midwifery care to more than two million patients every year. As well as Hilary’s longstanding contribution to the nursing profession locally and nationally, she is an exceptional leader whose impact reaches far beyond nursing.”
