Alison Leary is a Chair of Healthcare & Workforce Modelling at

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

. She works on the modelling of private and public healthcare systems. She is a Fellow of the

Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron until her death in 2022. ...

and

Queen's Nursing Institute The Queen's Nursing Institute (QNI) is a charity that works to improve the nursing care of people in their own homes in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It does not operate in Scotland, where the Queen's Nursing Institute Scotland performs ...

Early life and education

Leary studied natural sciences and graduated in 1986. She worked in engineering and biomedical sciences in the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

for ten years before studying a

Diploma of Higher Education A Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom. It is awarded after two years of full-time study at a university or other higher education institution. Rated as a Level 5 qualification on both the ...

in adult nursing at

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

. In 1997 she was awarded a Master's degree in biomedical science at

United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals The United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals was the name given to the joint medical and dental school formed in London as a result of the merger of Guy's Hospital Medical School, St Thomas's Hospital Medical School an ...

. She became a

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

(RN) in 1996. She earned a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in haemato-oncology and doctoral degree in at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 2006. She has since completed an advanced study program in data science and leadership at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

Research and career

Leary spent most of her clinical and analyst career in cancer, and worked with the National Cancer Action Team from 2005 to its dissolution in 2013 as part of the Lansley reforms. She was subsequently appointed a Chair in Healthcare and Workforce Modelling at the

in 2014. She is interested in the complexity of healthcare and ways to use non-linear mathematics to model hospital staffing and outcomes. She has argued that the healthcare workforce should be evaluated based on outcomes, rather than outputs. This could be achieved through improving staff working conditions and pay, as well as streamlining immigration processes for shortage occupations. Leary believes that better planning could greatly improve the healthcare system, focussing on better understanding demand and risk. She has questioned the protection of the job title of nurse, emphasising that it is important to use it only for the highly trained specialists within the

. She has previously held the position of

Chief Nursing Officer Nursing management consists of the performance of the leadership functions of governance and decision-making within organizations employing nurses. It includes processes common to all management like planning, organizing, staffing, directing and ...

St John Ambulance St John Ambulance is the name of a number of affiliated organisations in different countries which teach and provide first aid and emergency medical services, and are primarily staffed by volunteers. The associations are overseen by the internat ...

. She has supported the idea of bringing more men into nursing to mitigate for the staff shortfall, but could exacerbate current equality issues within the nursing profession. Leary studied the gender pay gap in nursing, and found that male nurses reached higher paying posts more quickly and were overrepresented at higher pay grades. In 2016 she was awarded a

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

Fellowship to study the use of big data in high reliability organisations. This position allowed her to compare healthcare with other safety critical industries in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and the

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. Leary served as the clinical lead at

Millwall Football Club Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east o ...

. In this capacity she helped the football club deploy emergency healthcare, and studied what roles are required for the most effective response team. Her research on the effectiveness of medical teams is part of

Millwall F.C. Millwall Football Club () is a professional football club in Bermondsey, South East London, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name ...

's new approach to healthcare services, which can accommodate disasters as well as minor injuries, spectator safety and primary care. This work was included in the Sports Safety Ground Authority's 2018 guide, which sets benchmarking standards in British football grounds. She stood dow
after 23 years
She is a member of the

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Whitehall Women expert group. She has served as

non-executive director A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of the ...

of several charities, including the National Lung Cancer Forum for Nurses, the Millwall Community Scheme. and th
British Association of Immediate Care

Awards and honours

* 2012

Mayor of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council are ...

Civic Award *2013

Florence Nightingale Foundation The Florence Nightingale Foundation (FNF) is a charity organisation in the United Kingdom that provides scholarships to nurses, midwives, and other health professionals while serving as a living memorial of the work of Florence Nightingale. His ...

Leadership Scholar *2014

Nursing Times ''Nursing Times'' is a website and monthly magazine for nurses, which is published in the United Kingdom. It covers original nursing research and best practice for nurses at all stages in their career, as well as daily news, opinion and other infor ...

Leaders list *2014

Health Service Journal ''Health Service Journal'' (''HSJ'') is a news service that covers policy and management in the National Health Service (NHS) in England. History The '' Poor Law Officers' Journal'' was established in 1892. In 1930, it changed its name after ...

Inspirational Women * 2015 Elected Fellow of the

* 2016 Elected Fellow of the

*2018 Top 70 women in health in 70 years of the NHS * 2019 Appointed an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in the

2019 Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...

Selected publications

Her publications include: * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leary, Alison Living people Nurses from London British women academics Fellows of the Royal College of Nursing Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of London Academics of London South Bank University British nurses