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Professor Jill Maben receives OBE

Professor Jill Maben attended Buckingham Palace on 14 October 2014 to receive her OBE for services to nursing and healthcare. The award was presented by HRH the Princess Royal, Princess Anne.

The Princess was very well briefed and asked Professor Maben about her research, including recent work on 100% single hospital bedrooms at Pembury hospital in Kent.

Speaking after the Investiture, Professor Maben said, “I feel deeply honoured to receive this award and very proud to be a nurse working in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery at King’s College London. As a historian, as well as a nurse, there is no better place to do my research. I accept the OBE to highlight the excellent work nurses and nurse researchers do, and want to emphasize the importance of having a good evidence-base for our professional work. I am very proud to lead a team of excellent researchers in the National Nursing Research unit, providing evidence for healthcare policy-making and ultimately helping support nurses in the work they do caring for patients on the frontline”.

“My family and I had a wonderful experience at the palace and Princess Anne showed a real interest in my research, knowing quite some detail about it. I attended the palace with my daughter, Lola, husband, Rob and my son, George. It was a very special day.”

Professor Maben undertook nurse training at Addenbrookes hospital, Cambridge, gaining an SRN qualification. She was subsequently awarded a BA in History by University College London, an MSc in Nursing by King’s College London and a PhD by the University of Southampton.

Following a post-doctoral fellowship at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Professor Maben joined the National Nursing Research Unit as Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director in April 2007. She was appointed Director in January 2011 and was awarded her personal chair in September 2011.

Professor Maben was in the Health Services Journal ‘Top 100 leaders’ in and was also included in the Health Service Journal’s inaugural list of Most Inspirational Women in Healthcare in 2013. She was expert advisor to the Prime Minister’s Nursing and Care Quality Forum in 2013, representing the wide ranging expertise within the National Nursing Research Unit.

Research includes national and international studies on workforce issues, improving care quality and measuring patient experience.

Professor Maben is passionate about creating positive practice environments for NHS staff and supporting nurses in the work they do caring for patients. Her programme of research has highlighted how ideals and values of new nursing students can become compromised in poor work environments and has highlighted the links between staff experiences of work and patient experiences of care.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

For pictures, interview opportunities or to commission editorial content, please contact, Oliver Stannard, Communications Officer, Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London, Tel: 020 7848 3062, Email:  oliver.stannard@kcl.ac.uk.

For further information about King's visit our 'King's in Brief' page.