UWE professor appointed to Florence Nightingale chair

University of the West of England Professor Candy McCabe has been appointed to the newly created Florence Nightingale Foundation (FNF) Chair in Clinical Nursing Practice Research, a post created in collaboration with the FNF and the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD) and the NHS Foundation Trust in Bath. Candy is currently Professor of Nursing and Pain Sciences at UWE Bristol and a Consultant Nurse at the RNHRD, where she leads on the Trust’s Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Service (CRPS). She is also involved with the Bristol Health Partners Integrated Pain Management Health Integration Team (IPM HIT).

Professor McCabe said: “It’s a great honour to be awarded this Chair by the Florence Nightingale Foundation. As a nurse I am passionate about improving patient care, and advancing the profession of nursing to help achieve that. Florence Nightingale had a clear vision, which still holds true today for how excellence in nursing practice and leadership could benefit the individual and society as a whole. It was that vision that drew me to nursing in the first place and I am thrilled to now have the opportunity to advance the aims of my profession whilst retaining my clinical and research practice.”

Sarah Green, Head of Nursing and Midwifery at UWE Bristol, said: “This prestigious Chair is the seventh FNF Chair to be created in the UK and a great accolade for us. The FNF’s mission is to support nurses and midwives in various ways; at the heart of the FNF mission is emphasising the importance to us all of nurses and midwives, and ensuring that senior nurses and midwives contribute positively to strategic policy development at the very top levels in the health system. This chimes perfectly with the vision of the Faculty and the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, whose vision is ‘With practice, for practice, transforming practice’.”

“The RNHRD is immensely proud of Candy’s achievement,” said Rayna McDonald, Director of Operations and Clinical Practice at the RNHRD. “The Florence Nightingale chair represents a fantastic opportunity to influence nursing at a national level; I know Candy will make the very most of that opportunity and approach this appointment with the same passion and commitment she applies to all areas of her work and will continue to be influential in developing nursing practice. Candy’s work and achievements uphold the values of the RNHRD and reinforce the high quality care we deliver, we will continue to work with her as she develops this new role and helps to shape the future delivery of patient care.”

Professor Elizabeth Robb, Chief Executive of the Florence Nightingale Foundation, said, “Professor Candy McCabe’s appointment is the first of our appointments in the South West and we are thrilled that she is joining our network of clinical nursing practice research chairs. Her clinical research area fits well with the vision and the key national and research priorities of the Florence Nightingale Foundation.”

Professor Candy McCabe trained as a nurse at St Thomas’ Hospital, London and after working in a variety of specialties, including ward based and research work, she moved to the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD), Bath in the mid- 90s. Since this time her research and clinical interests directly relate to increasing our understanding of the mechanisms and potential therapies for those with chronic unexplained pain, particularly that of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and other neuropathic pain conditions. She leads a multi-disciplinary Clinical Research team that provides national services for those with CRPS and for those suffering with late effects from radiotherapy following treatment for breast cancer.

The central core of her research is focused on the relationship between the sensory and motor systems and pain; what part they may play in the development and perpetuation of pain; and how they can be modified to relieve pain. Candy was awarded an NIHR Career Development Fellowship in 2009 to pursue this research whilst retaining her part-time clinical practice as a Consultant Nurse. She moved to the University of the West of England in April 2010 to take up a Chair in Nursing and Pain Sciences.

Candy is a member of a number of national committees in the specialties of rheumatology and pain, is Chair of the International Association for the Study of Pain Special Interest Group for CRPS, and a member of the British Pain Society Scientific Committee. She is a past president of the British Health Professionals in Rheumatology.