Tony is a qualified mental health and general nurse with experience in hospital and community settings as well as in teaching and research. He became inaugural Chair and Queens Nursing Institute Professor of Community Nursing at the University of Manchester in 1987 where he undertook original and ground breaking research into clinical supervision and psychosocial education for people with schizophrenia. He led a Government review of mental health nursing in 1994 and became General Secretary for WHO Collaborating Centres for Nursing in 1997.
Promoted to Dean of School to succeed the Baroness McFarlane of Llandaff, he later became a Pro-Vice Chancellor for external affairs for the University of Manchester in 1998. During this time he was elected by his peers to be the first Chair of the Council of Deans of Health in 1997.
Tony moved back to the NHS as WDC Chief Executive for Trent in 2001 and he became Director of a Research Centre for Clinical and Academic Workforce Innovation at the University of Lincoln in 2005. He and his team led the UKCRC review of Clinical Academic Careers for Nursing, completed in late 2007. He was elected to be first Chair of the Academy of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting Research (UK) in 2008.
Present work:-
1. Chair of the Academy of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting Research (UK).
2. Non-Executive Director of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement
3. Trustee to the Charity – For Dementia and Admiral Nursing
4. Visiting Professor to the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Maribor in Slovenia.
He has supervised 22 students to the successful completion of their PhDs, authored or co-authored 6 text books and written extensively in peer reviewed journals and the professional press. He developed and leads a post-graduate module on modernisation, patient safety and Improvement for a taught Masters (M.Clin.Res.) degree. He was recently awarded honorary Fellowship of the NHS Institute Faculty of Health Care Innovators.