Kathleen Carolan, Director of Nursing and Acute Services
Kathleen was appointed as the Director of Nursing, Midwifery and AHPs in 2010 and in 2014 became the Chief Operating Officer for the Acute and Specialist Services Directorate.
Kathleen joined the NHS in 1990. Completing her undergraduate nurse training at Manchester University in 1996, in her early career Kathleen worked in a variety of clinical roles in Greater Manchester as well as in research and epidemiology. This included working with Trusts, Health Authorities and Academic Partners on regional research programmes exploring patterns of disease, particularly the impact of long term conditions. In 2001, Kathleen was appointed Head of Clinical Effectiveness at NHS Stockport Trust in 2003 moved to NHS Shetland where she continued to lead programmes to support the implementation of Clinical Networks and long term conditions strategies.
In 2016, Kathleen took the lead for the strategic planning for children's services for NHS Shetland and the Child Health Commissioner role. Kathleen has chaired the North of Scotland Advanced Practice Academy which has provided a great platform for collaboration to develop nursing, midwifery and AHP roles and ensure that practitioners working across the North of Scotland have equity of access to continuing professional development.
Kathleen has a career-long interest in improvement science, epidemiology and research with an MBA and DCert in quality improvement and advancing nursing practice. Kathleen considers herself very fortunate to live and work in such a great community and have a real passion for remote and rural healthcare and looking at ways in which the Board can deliver person centred care in a safe and sustainable way across Shetland, including using technology to improve access and reduce health inequalities.