Tracy Pilcher

Director of Nursing, AHPs and Operations/Deputy Chief Executive at LCHS

On a typical day

Each day is very different in this role, but primarily most days start at about 8am with a combination of meetings with staff from across the executive team and the trust. I like to spend at least one day a month back in service areas, such as going on visits with community nurses or other services across the trust. In Lincolnshire’s health system, I am responsible for the maternity transformation programme, as well as the system quality work, so do spend time working on these areas as well.

What inspired me to become a nurse

As long as I remember I wanted to be a nurse. My mum was a nurse and therefore I was always inspired to follow in her footsteps. That was more than 30 years ago and I can honestly say that this has been a fantastic career. I have worked in lots of different areas and parts of the country, and there is always something new to learn, which I finding both challenging and rewarding.

I started my nurse training in 1985 at Grimsby School of Nursing. I completed my training in 1988 and went into coronary care nursing, where I developed my passion for critical care nursing. I moved to Oxford in 1989 where I moved into critical care nursing and spent 15 years.

I have done a number of ‘firsts’; we were the first group to do our critical care nursing programme at Oxford Brookes University, I was part of the international rescue team called Operation Irma in 1992 and I was one of the first nurses to do an advanced trauma course in 1993. I went on to do a masters degree in health care studies and autonomous practice programme.

In 1996, I became a part of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses (BACCN) at a regional level, and joined the national board in 1998. In 1999, the BACCN developed a series of position statements in relation to nurse patient ratios in critical care, which I lead, and I became the chair of BACCN in 2006.

In 2004, I moved to Lincolnshire to be the first consultant nurse for ULHT and worked in the organisation for 8 years. In 2013 I moved to be the Chief Nurse for Lincolnshire East CCG, where I worked for 6 years.

Most memorable moment

One of my most memorable moments was when I was part of the UK Operation Irma in 1992. I had just finished my ICU course and was asked if I wanted to join the Oxford team to fly out to Bosnia to bring injured children back to the UK for treatment.