Ellie Gordon
Senior nurse, learning disability and mental health
NHS England
Ellie Gordon is a registered mental health nurse, non-medical prescriber and clinical nurse specialist in drug and alcohol dependency nursing. She has several years’ experience of working in the NHS, local authority, private and non-statutory sectors.
She has had a diverse career to date and currently works as senior nurse for learning disability and mental health in the national nursing and midwifery directorate at Health Education England (HEE). Focused on addressing the challenges facing the learning disability nursing workforce, the All-England Plan for Learning Disability Nurses uses a collaborative approach to bring together national stakeholders to address this issue. Ms Gordon has also ensured that there is meaningful engagement with, and active participation from, people with lived experience, their families and carers, as it is this group who will be able to ensure that the plan recruits and retains the learning disability nurses who are fit for the now and the future. Before this she worked at NHS England as part of the Transforming Care programme.
She has throughout her career retained a patient-facing element to her work by consistently working in specialist addiction services, and currently works as a nurse prescriber in a specialist addiction service.
She was elected chair of the RCN mental health forum in 2021, and in this role works to ensure that mental health nurses and nursing has a high profile in the college. She is also working to ensure that the 14,000 members of the forum are regularly and consistently involved in the work of the forum, which spans the whole UK. This will ensure that members are able to support the work of the forum; including work with the Department of Health and Social Ccare to inform Mental Health Act amendments, raising the profile and awareness of the unique skill set of mental health nurses, working with lived experience colleagues to learn from their experience and change nursing practice.
Ellie Gordon is speaking at the following session on Thursday 24 October
Painting a picture of mental health nursing: who are we and what do we do?