Alison Lester-Owen

I started my journey into health care in 1989, first qualifying and registering as a General Nurse in 1993, and then as an NMC Registered Midwife in 1994. I started working in undergraduate education at NEWI (now Wrexham University WU) in 2001 developing a passion for enhancing links between theory and practice, and making a real-life positive impact on practice and professional development. My work during this time was predominately in Pre Registration Nursing to include in later years Return to Practice.

My employment journey took me to work at another University which enhanced my knowledge and understanding of nurse education. After a period of returning to working as a Ward Manager in a clinical setting, I returned to education within a Further Education College, which really helped me to appreciate the importance of Widening Participation and the privileged position that we as educators have. I returned to WU in 2020 and began teaching,  developing curricula, and leading modules and programmes within the post-qualification/ post-registration provision.  At this point I developed a particular interest in Compassionate Leadership and have been working to develop and embed this within my practice since.

In 2022 I was promoted to Principle Lecturer and Professional Lead for Nursing at Wrexham University's St Asaph Campus. Since September 2022 it is my great privilege to have been building and leading our staff team based in St Asaph, embedding our new provision and delivering nurse education from the central area of our North Wales locality.