Sue joined North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust as Director of Nursing, Patient Safety and Infection Prevention and Control in 2008. Prior to appointment into this post Sue was Deputy Director of Infection Prevention and Control & Patient Safety at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Sue has led teams at both North Tees and Hartlepool and at Nottingham onto the national NHSI Leading Improvement in Patient Safety (LIPS) programme which aims to reduce avoidable harm or mortality through local review of care pathways/clinical notes to ascertain what practices can be improved to reduce potential risk of harm to patients. This programme has resulted in the introduction of structured multiprofessional review of patient care and measurement for improvement in both organisations. Mortality at North Tees and Hartlepool has reduced by 15% per year (around double that expected) over the last two-years due to clinical professionals adopting a relentless pursuit of reducing potential for harm.

Sue has a strong background in clinical nursing and patient safety. For the past five-years she has been one of the national leads in a team that developed a nursing workforce planning tool that links acuity dependency to nurse staffing and nurse sensitive (clinical) indicators. Sue continues to contribute to this project.

Sue is currently involved in a number of national work-streams including being on the Department of Health Integrated Care Pilot Board; working with the National Patient Safety Agency on management of the deteriorating patient; Being Open and Matching Michigan. Sue continues to write for publication and has had work published in numerous journals.