Andrea Spyropoulos, RGN, SCM, RNT, is a British nurse, clinical strategist and a past president 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. ...

(RCN).

Early life and education

Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, her career started with nursing and has spanned a number of disciplines including

midwifery Midwifery is the health science and health profession that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period (including care of the newborn), in addition to the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout their lives. In many cou ...

academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

and the planning and development of new

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

projects. She obtained a number of academic degrees, i.e. a BA in Health Studies, an LLB (Hons) in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and an

LLM A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degree in

Medical Law Medical law is the branch of law which concerns the prerogatives and responsibilities of medical professionals and the rights of the patient. It should not be confused with medical jurisprudence, which is a branch of medicine, rather than a br ...

. She furthermore received a Diploma in Professional Studies in Nursing (DPSN) and qualified as a

Registered General Nurse Nursing in the United Kingdom has a long history. The current form of nursing is often considered as beginning with Florence Nightingale who pioneered modern nursing. Nightingale initiated formal schools of nursing in the United Kingdom in the l ...

(RGN), a State Certified Midwife (SCM) and a Registered Nurse Teacher (RNT).

Career

Spyropoulos trained as a nurse at the former Royal Liverpool United Hospitals Group in 1976. She has more than 30 years nursing experience, including working as a Midwife and then a senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, teaching Health Care and later Medical Law. She worked on the trust board of Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology for 9 years as a non-executive director. During her term she chaired Independent Panel Reviews and the Research Governance Committee as well as sitting on the performance, audit, investment and remuneration committees. She stepped down from this role on 31 January 2007. In 2003, she joined Health Care Projects Social Infrastructure. Now working as a Clinical Strategist, she provides expert clinical advice to hospital design teams.

Work with the Royal College of Nursing

Spyropoulos became a member of the Royal College of Nursing when she was 18. Appointed as a steward in 1988, since that time she has held a number of other unpaid roles within the organisation including positions as Safety Representative, Council Member and chair of Nursing Practice and Policy Committee before being elected to the role of president in 2010. She has represented the RCN in several fora, including at its Congress events and notably also at conferences hosted in the UK Parliament's House of Commons. Spyropoulos thanked RCN members and colleagues stating that she was "really looking forward to representing the RCN and its members at the highest level.". A month later she represented the RCN at the European Parliament's 'EU Public Health Alliance'.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spyropoulos, Andrea Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Nurses from Liverpool British nursing administrators Presidents of the Royal College of Nursing