Catherine Vichare, director of nursing at St Andrew's Healthcare

Mental health charity appoints new director

Mental health charity St Andrew’s Healthcare has made a new appointment within its senior team in the form of a nursing expert with experience across the third sector, social care, and the NHS.

The charity has appointed Catherine Vichare as its new director of nursing in a move that charity executives hope will bring a fresh perspective to the role. Vichare has worked in the mental health sector for more than 20 years – eight of which were at St Andrew’s Healthcare.

Goals

The goal for Vichare is to bring the existing nursing body at St Andrew’s together as a single unit, so the experiences of every nurse can contribute to better care in every setting.

Accountability and feeling empowered enough to challenge current practices are things that Vichare particularly wants to champion during her tenure as director of nursing.

Comment from Catherine Vichare, director of nursing at St Andrew's Healthcare

“Having worked within a number of different roles within the charity and in the NHS, I can bring a unique perspective to the role of Director of Nursing, one which understands the fine balance between improving quality nursing care, while bringing efficiencies and innovations that improve the patient experience across our service user groups,” she said.

Experience

Vichare began her nursing career in 2003 and has led multiple NHS and non-NHS services. She has also led team across:

  • community mental health;
  • policy and training development; and
  • secure inpatient service settings.

In her time at St Andrew’s, Vichare has been modern matron, clinical lead at the charity’s Birmingham site, and more recently the clinical director of the outpatients’ service for four years – during which time the service secured a ‘good’ rating from the Care Quality Commission.

“Catherine is a highly valued member of staff who has worked in a number of senior positions, having consistently delivered high quality care and service to all our patients and service users,” added the charity’s CEO, Dr Vivienne McVey.

“As a charity we are focussed on providing consistently high quality care for our patients and we believe Catherine is a passionate advocate of excellence in patient care, with a proven track record of leading on successful and complex patient projects.”

Image credit: St Andrew’s Healthcare

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