Shared Governance at NUH

At NUH, Shared Governance is defined as...

"Staff having collective ownership to develop and improve practice, to ensure patients receive caring, safe and confident care. It places staff at the heart of the decision making process and sees managers having a facilitative leadership role." (Taylor, 2016)

Staff volunteers from clinical settings link together to create a Shared Governance Council in their area. These Councils are then taught the skills they need to examine their practice and implement evidence based changes. It gives them ownership for improving their care delivery and builds their confidence and leadership skills.

Shared Governance artwork by Rebecca Barrett

Shared Governance Councils are supported by a dedicated team of Shared Governance Clinical Educators who provide them with training, guidance, coaching and signposting to help them fulfil their objectives and improvements. Recognition of their achievements is supported with opportunities to showcase Trust wide through Leadership Council, a monthly meeting chaired by the Chief Nurse, and nationally through conferences and awards.

Shared Governance is also known as Shared Leadership, Shared Decision Making and Shared Accountability.

Leadership at all levels

Shared Governance Training Courses

The Shared Governance Team offers a range of internal and external courses which can be found below.

Internal Training

The Shared Governance Team offers a three-day Professional Development Programme for all Shared Governance Councils and a Shared Governance Managers’ Workshop.

The training that the Shared Governance Team delivers provides key information on the Shared Governance framework, including:

  • Why we have Shared Governance at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH)
  • Councils’ responsibility to involve patients in changes and improvements
  • Where and how to find evidence to support their improvements
  • The basic tools for running the Council
  • Knowledge required for a successful Quality Improvement
  • Allyship and inclusive leadership

Meet the Shared Governance team

Pam Doherty

Pam Doherty

Pam Doherty - Clinical Lead for Shared Governance and Inclusive Leadership

Pam currently works as a registered nurse leading on Shared Governance and Inclusive Leadership programmes for the Trust. Her portfolio also includes the PNA rollout ensuring all staff have access to restorative clinical supervision moving forward.

Previous to this, Pam worked for 25 years as a midwife in the Trust in various roles in leadership and governance and obtained her BS (Hons) degree in Midwifery.

Pam has worked as a Practice Development Matron in Nursing which included education and governance. Pam has also worked as an Operational Matron covering Acute Pain services, Outpatients and Phlebotomy across both sites. More recently Pam was the Education and Wellbeing Matron for the Ambulatory Care division before taking on the post.

Pam is passionate about supporting staff and has extended roles which include Speak up Champion, Culture Ambassador and a facilitator in conversation support.

Sarah Davis

Sarah Davis

Sarah Davis - Practice Development Lead for Shared Governance

Sarah has been an acute medicine nurse since 2007 - adult admissions for 7 years and then Cardiology for 4 years. Sarah completed an 18 month clinical rotation alongside the Heart Services Education Programme. Sarah has worked both as a Staff Nurse and Deputy Ward Manager and has now completed the top-up BSc. Sarah has interestes in culture, coaching, wellbeing and leadership.

Shona Browne

Shona Browne

Shona Browne - Shared Governance Clinical Educator

Shona is a registered nurse and has worked at NUH since 2014 in a variety of areas such as Acute Medicine (B3), Renal (Bramley Ward) and Haematology (Haematology Day case). Shona has previously worked as both a Staff Nurse and Deputy Sister and has been an active member of various Unit Practice Councils, encouraging the drive for change, improvement, and wellbeing within her areas.

Shona is passionate about supporting staff and encouraging those on the front line to speak up and be responsible for recognising, reacting and implementing, quality services and structure to NUH.

Pooja Shah

Pooja Shah

Pooja Shah - Shared Governance Clinical Educator

Pooja qualified as a midwife in 2017. She has gained a wealth of clinical experience by rotating to all areas of the acute maternity setting. Pooja is a graduate of the NHS Developing Aspirant Leaders Programme: a programme designed to empower and equip participants with the skills they need to become an effective, compassionate and inclusive leader in today’s NHS. Pooja joined the Shared Governance team because she is passionate about staff engagement; highly engaged staff lead to better outcomes for service users.

Lini Raju

Lini Raju

Lini Raju - Shared Governance Clinical Educator

Lini Raju, a dedicated Shared Governance Clinical Educator at NUH, brings over a decade of nursing experience across various specialties. With a strong belief in empowering colleagues, patients, and the entire organization, Lini ensures that every voice is heard and valued. Passionate about knowledge sharing and collaboration, Lini fosters a culture of continuous learning, equipping healthcare professionals to provide exceptional care while enhancing the well-being of staff, patients, and the organization as a whole. With a deep commitment to creating a supportive environment, Lini actively provides a safe space for individuals to voice their concerns and promotes open dialogue, facilitating a collaborative approach to problem-solving. Through her dedication and commitment, Lini makes a positive impact on individuals and communities, fostering a harmonious and inclusive healthcare environment.

Theresa Graser

Theresa Graser

Theresa Graser - Shared Governance Clinical Educator

Theresa, originally from Germany, completed a BSc (Hons) in Adult Nursing in the UK in 2013. Recently, she graduated from King’s College London with a master’s degree in Public Health in 2023. With a background as a Registered Nurse, Theresa has extensive experience in multiple Adult & Paediatric Emergency Departments (EDs), specialising in major trauma care. Additionally, she has worked in Coronary Care and is a trained Mentor.

Before joining the Shared Governance team as a Clinical Educator in May 2023, Theresa worked as a Junior Sister at the ED Same Day Emergency Care in East London. Theresa's passion for empowering and supporting colleagues involved her in launching a 'Debrief Team' to enhance the emotional well-being of staff through chairing debriefs and Team Times applying Schwartz Rounds principles. Despite juggling a demanding schedule in ED, Theresa’s respectful approach earned her a patient nomination for a ‘Barts Hero Award’.

Theresa’s interest in staff engagement and innovation was further ignited when she was awarded a scholarship by Florence Nightingale Foundation for the NHS 70 Leadership Programme in 2019. This experience drove her commitment to enhancing healthcare services, as evidenced by securing a ‘Healthcare Delivery Improvement Grant’.

An advocate for patient and public involvement in healthcare, Theresa volunteered locally with ‘YourStance’, teaching young people about haemorrhage control and basic life support. She also volunteered internationally in a local HIV programme.

Theresa enjoys working collaboratively on new ideas and projects from the ground up. Her can-do attitude inspires her to encourage staff to believe in their ability to create change and establish a strong and positive team atmosphere across NUH, ultimately providing exceptional care to the public.

Victor Onasanya

Victor Onasanya

Victor Onasanya - Shared Governance Clinical Educator

Victor is a motivated Registered Nurse who has worked at NUH since 2018 as a Recovery Practitioner in the main Theatre at QMC.

Victor was the lead trainer/assessor for moving and handling for theatres and has made a positive contribution to staff members.  He has always been committed to his job role, very compassionate and has good interpersonal skills.

Victor is an active member of the “BAME” shared governance council at NUH and has immensely supported community events by sensitizing, collaborating and engagement.

Victor never stops pulling his weight, he has supported various unit practice councils, encouraging the drive for change, improvement, and well-being within the trust.

Victor is a good team player who is very passionate about supporting staff to deliver excellent patient care.

Colleen Wright

Colleen Wright

Colleen Wright - Shared Governance Educator

Colleen is a registered midwife with nearly 15 years’ experience practicing throughout all areas of midwifery at NUH City Hospital. She was a senior band 6 midwife on labour suite prior to joining the team and had link roles throughout her midwifery career to enhance her practice.

She has a passion for collective leadership and quality improvement which only thrived during her time within the labour suite shared governance council, of which she was chair of for 4 years.

She has completed the LEO course as well as the trust leadership day and is also on the last module of the Leadership and Innovation Degree course. On completion this will entitle her to a degree qualification which was not available when she first qualified.

She joined the Shared Governance team in August of 2023 to help and support others to achieve the successes she herself achieved within her unit practice council on labour suite. She is passionate about the impact staff can have on the quality and experience of maternity care at NUH for the service users and the staff themselves. Colleen is excited about growing the use of shared governance to all teams of maternity here at NUH including the community. She will be supporting staff to make quality innovative improvements and creating a culture of shared governance on the “shop floor” that underpins the shared governance values of partnership, equity, ownership and accountability, thus empowering staff to develop leadership skills and being leaders within their own right no matter their professional roles or banding.

She once read “if hospitals embedded innovation from staff within the NHS it would be one of the most successfully ran organisations in the world”. She wants to champion her colleagues to be able to achieve that for the staff, the service users and for NUH.