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Dr Frances Hughes commenced in the role of Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer for Queensland Health in 2012. Dr Hughes will be delivering a keynote address at the 2014 Developing the Role of the Nurse Practitioner. Her presentation will investigate opportunities for optimising the nurse practitioner in Queensland. The talk will examine the current role of the Nurse Practitioner (NP) and look at how it can be further developed and grown. Dr Hughes will also address how the role (NP) can be further to advance patient care.
Dr Hughes has had 30 years’ experience in the New Zealand and international health arena, working as a health clinician, manager and educator. She is a trained general and mental health nurse. In addition to her nursing qualifications, she has a BA, MA and a doctorate. Dr Hughes is a Fellow of the New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses and the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses and is an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for her services to Mental Health. She has extensive knowledge of health policy development particularly in the field of nursing and mental health, research, and global health issues.
Dr Hughes has played a major leadership role in nursing in New Zealand and was instrumental in the development of government policy around nurse prescribing, primary health care and rural scholarship schemes, nursing workforce, nurse practitioners and tele-nursing.
Dr Hughes is the former Chief Nurse for the Ministry of Health in New Zealand and prior to commencement with Queensland Health was Acting Deputy Director of Mental Health for New Zealand. Dr Hughes also held the position of Commandant-Colonel of the Royal New Zealand Army Nursing Corps for several years. Dr Hughes was the first nurse to be awarded the Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy in 2001, from Commonwealth Fund in New York, USA. This Fellowship allowed her to study US health policy with mentor Dr Linda Aiken of the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Over the last few years Dr Hughes has been commissioned by governments, the World Health Organisation and non-government organisations for work in relation to nursing, policy and mental health in Australia, the South Pacific, UK, Canada and Asia. Dr Hughes has been a technical consultant for the WHO, in particular the area of psychosocial emergency response.
Up until her appointment to Queensland Health, Dr Hughes worked part time for the WHO/WPRO in the Pacific and was the first Professor of Nursing at Auckland University. In October 2011 Dr Hughes received a New Zealand Fulbright Senior Scholar Award to undertake research in the USA during 2012 and 2013 on post-disaster lessons as they apply to health professionals.
Visit the Developing the Role of the Nurse Practitioner conference website for more information about the event and to register.