Qualifying as a registered nurse in 2002, Ms Gillespie leads the nursing portfolio at Skills for Care, the strategic workforce planning body for adult social care in England. The overall focus is on raising the profile of nursing in social care; developing and sharing narratives and opportunities to recruit, retaining and valuing the social care nursing workforce.

Ms Gillespie began her career in social care, working with older people and with people with a learning disability. She has worked in a variety of nursing roles in heath, before moving into workforce strategy, recruitment and retention, and education across health and social care. She was the John Burdett fellow, joining the national nursing team at Health Education Engand in 2021-2022.

In a secondary role, she works as an associate with the Foundation of Nursing Studies facilitating learning and supervision skills for healthcare professionals.

She is passionate about the nursing profession and the impact of nursing practice on outcomes and experience of care.