Meet the agenda committee

BJ Waltho, Chair of Congress

BJ recently retired after 48 years working in the NHS but continues to work on the bank. Her role prior to retirement was Associate Director of Operations for the University Hospitals Dorset (UHD). She was previously Programme Manager for Emergency Services Collaborative and Improvement Services for Hospitals and has experience in managing outpatient services.

BJ chaired her local branch in Dorset for many years and she received an RCN Award of Merit in 2006 for her work with the forums. BJ has been a member of the Agenda Committee since 2011, and was elected Vice Chair of Congress in 2014 and Chair of Congress in 2018. In 2022, BJ was re-elected as Chair of Congress for a term of office ending after Congress 2024.

Linda Bailey, Vice Chair of Congress

Linda began her nursing career in 1982. She worked as a staff nurse in acute hospitals, and as a health visitor before moving into Public Health. She retired from the NHS in 2019 having worked as a Consultant in Public Health in Wales for six years. Due to Covid she returned to work in March 2020, retiring again in 2022. She is currently looking for a part time nursing post. 

Since joining the RCN in 1987, at various times she has been a steward, branch officer, member of the Agenda Committee, member of the Public Health Forum Steering Committee, Council member for London and Nurse Treasurer of the RCN. 

Paul Vaughan, Chair of Council

Paul works with NHS England as the Deputy Director - Primary Care Nursing and NextGen Nurse. Previously Paul was a Director of Nursing, Transformation within the organisation. Currently, the focus of his role is on general practice nursing and leading the national initiative on the perception of nursing known as NextGen Nurse. The Getting to Equity programme, a component of NextGen Nurse has been devised by Paul and Carol Cooper, Director, Global Talent Compass. It provides an evidence-based framework that enables executive white leaders to promote the careers of aspiring ethnic minority nurse leaders and midwives to connect and build on existing talent that otherwise would have been missed or may not have had the opportunity to grow into senior or executive NHS leadership positions.

Paul was a Regional Director with the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). Leading and managing RCN services in the West Midlands, Paul worked with key stakeholders to ensure the needs of RCN members within the region were met and the interests of nurses, HCAs and nursing were promoted and protected.

Engaging members in the work of the RCN was a key focus for Paul. Through his conception and delivery of the Local Learning Event Programme (branch engagement) and the Cultural Ambassadors Programme (addressing concerns of BME members with the disciplinary and grievance process) the region gained a reputation for listening to members and working with them to deliver positive change.

Paul has also been the RCN’s HCA Adviser, offering advice to HCAs, Assistant Practitioners (AP) and employers on issues relating to the employment and development of these roles. He also made a significant contribution to the development of the HCA role in general practice through his role as the National Project Manager with the Working in Partnership Programmes (WiPP), Health Care Assistant Initiative.

Paul has completed a Masters in Management with the University of Liverpool and his dissertation focused on the factors that enable nursing staff to raise concerns in their workplace. 

Josie Gordon

Josie is a student nurse with three years' experience in nursing but fifteen years' experience in organising and running democratic events. She has established and chaired general meetings of societies, acted as an independent Returning Officer for membership organisations and rewrote a helpline's entire constitution, taking it from scratch up to ratification by an extraordinary conference.

Josie is keen to support and encourage as many members as possible to take part in Congress in whatever ways they can, shape the agendas for future Congresses and ensure a broad range of debate for our members. 

Vicky Keir

Vicky is a mental health nurse with 25 years of frontline experience. She is a registered RCN Steward and Safety Representative, and has held a number of committee positions on the RCN Dumfries & Galloway branch. Vicky was elected to the agenda committee in 2019

Stuart Quarterman

Stuart has worked as a Nurse for 25 years and is currently the Clinical Lead for Learning Disabilities. He is a registered RCN Steward. Stuart was elected to the agenda committee in 2023.

Stuart believes that the importance of debate and a rich embodiment of opinion should be a high priority on the Congress Agenda.

Professor Pat Cullen, General Secretary & Chief Executive

Pat has worked at the RCN since 2016 and has been acting as General Secretary & Chief Executive since April 2021, and was appointed as interim General Secretary & Chief Executive in July 2021.

In a career that has spanned both hospital and community settings, Pat was Assistant Director of Mental Health Services and Professional Head of Nursing in a local health care trust before joining the Department of Health as Nursing Officer in 2001. During this time she was involved in the development of the commissioning of the first Medium Secure Unit in Northern Ireland and the first Department of Health standards for clinical supervision in mental health nursing.

Following this, Pat took on various roles in commissioning before being appointed Deputy Director of Nursing, Safety, Quality and Patient Experience in the Public Health Agency (PHA) and Health and Social Care Board (HSCB). Pat led the development of the first safety and quality strategy in Northern Ireland and established the 10,000 Voices project which collected patient voices in order to inform commissioning decisions.

Pat was then seconded as Executive Director of Nursing and Allied Health Professions within the PHA and HSCB. Before joining the RCN, Pat, on behalf for the Department of Health, led the commissioning and performance management arrangements for unscheduled care services.

In 2024, the title of Honorary Professor of Practice was conferred on Pat by the Queen's University Belfast.

In addition to her extensive career experience, Pat is a registered psychotherapist.