Page 11 - QARANC Vol 20 No 3 2023

Carol Kefford, one of our Association’s two Colonels Commandant, has been awarded an OBE for her services to nursing in The King’s New Year Honours List 2023.
The honour relates to Carol’s role as Clinical Director and Chief Nurse at Nuffield Health, the UK’s largest healthcare charity, where she led the clinical response of its network of hospitals during the pandemic, treating over 500,000 patients and providing staff, facilities, and equipment to NHS trusts.
Carol admits she had no idea whatsoever that the honour was coming: “Nuffield Health first approached my husband two years ago for some background and to find out what I did and had done outside of my day job. This is a civilian OBE, and it can take a very long time to go through all the layers of the review process.
“Of course, being written up does not mean that you will receive the award and those involved in the nomination are not told whether it has been successful of not, so Mike was left in suspense while I was in blissful ignorance.
“When I received the news, I was in my goldfish bowl of an office and had to use every ounce of self-control not to react too dramatically! I felt very emotional, especially because the first thought that crossed my mind was how much it would mean to my husband and family, especially my 94-year-old mother.”
Carol started her nursing career in the NHS in 1976, joining the Army in 1982 having been qualified for about 21⁄2 years. She was attracted by the “variety of experiences” she could have in this country and overseas. “I’m absolutely a nurse at heart,” admits Carol.
Her career highs were Hong Kong and Nepal and then Nepal again as part of the disaster response to the earthquake in 1988. She has loved her roles training recruits and as O/C at the Student Officers Course at the QATC. Carol was Deputy Matron of the Ministry of Defence Hospital Unit in the very early days of its relationship with Frimley Park Hospital.
She added: “The Corps and the Army have been incredibly good to me including suggesting that I take two years unpaid leave so that I could accompany my very new husband to Kathmandu where he had been posted as Defence Attaché and Commander British Gurkhas Nepal. I would have had to resign my commission to go but instead had the security of the job I loved being held for me while I had the most amazing experiences again in Nepal.”
She has been Col Commandant for almost six years. Usually a five-year appointment, Carol agreed to stay on to continue to support the Corps through the post Covid times and numerous changes both across Defence and Healthcare. She will handover to a successor mid-year and says she will “miss [the role] very much”.
Outside of the Association, Carol is now an
The Corps and the Army have been incredibly good to me including suggesting that I take two years unpaid
leave so
that I could accompany my very new husband to Kathmandu
executive for HCA Healthcare UK and leads a team of 10 Chief Nursing Officers, 1,700 nurses and midwives and nearly 1,000 allied health professionals (AHPs) across a network of hospitals, outpatient centres and specialist clinics.
She mentors high potential nurse leaders who are Florence Nightingale Foundation Scholars and somehow still finds time for her family, which includes three stepchildren and eight grandchildren in France, Singapore and Wales. Carol describes her home with Mike in London as “an incredibly popular as a base for teenagers to visit”.
Her other keen interest is sailing, which is once or twice a year chartering for a week. For seven years from 2008, Carol and Mike sailed the Med, across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific. She did occasional interim roles to “top up the coffers” when something needed fixing.
Carol will collect her OBE from either Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, either from The King or another senior Royal.
Reflecting on her career, she said: “I have loved being a nurse and nursing leader in the military, NHS and across the independent hospital sector. I’m lucky to have worked with so many talented nurses, clinicians and healthcare leaders who have guided, mentored, and supported me so that I could give my best to our patients and the profession that has given me so much.”
The Gazette QARANC Association 11
Carol Kefford awarded OBE for services to nursing