Pat Cullen

Pat Cullenis General Secretary & Chief Executive at The Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

Career

Pat has worked at the RCN since 2016 and has been in post as Director of RCN Northern Ireland since May 2019. Pat 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 addition to her extensive career experience, Pat is a registered psychotherapist.