My friend and mentor Susan Pembrey, who has taken her own life aged 71, was an inspiring nurse leader who promoted the development of university education for nurses.
She was born in Sussex and trained at the Nightingale school of nursing at St Thomas' hospital, London, from 1961 to 1964. Her education continued at the London School of Economics, where she studied for a diploma in social administration. She then took a position at the General Nursing Council's research unit, before returning to clinical work as a ward sister at St Thomas' in the early 1970s. She was a member of the Briggs committee (1970-72), which proposed university education for nurses.
On the Beckett ward at St Thomas', she implemented a system of "individualised nursing", where nurses were made responsible for a group of patients and would meet all their needs, rather than the traditional approach, in which junior staff provided personal care and their senior colleagues undertook more technical tasks such as administering drugs. With the individualised system, the nurses had greater job satisfaction, communication was better and Sue found she had more time to oversee the ward.
She undertook research in this area for her PhD from Edinburgh University. Her thesis was published by the Royal College of Nursing in 1980 as The Ward Sister – Key to Nursing: A Study of the Organisation of Individualised Nursing.
Her first opportunity to develop such practice on a large scale followed her appointment in 1978 as a district clinical practice development nurse at Oxfordshire health authority. She set out to transform the quality of hospital care by focusing on the individual. This was supported by her policy of appointing graduate nurses.
Sue played a leading role in the Oxford nursing development unit at the Radcliffe Infirmary, where opportunities were created for nurses to practise in innovative ways that placed the patient at the centre of care. She also supported the lecturer-practitioner role.
In 1989 Sue established the Institute of Nursing in Oxford to promote innovation and the rigorous evaluation of practice. She also forged alliances with both universities in Oxford, the RCN and the King's Fund. Throughout her career she was a mentor to many, encouraging nurses to question with sensitivity and intelligence. She was made a fellow of the RCN in 1979 and appointed OBE in 1990.
Sue had enormous personal warmth; she loved people and was devoted to her family.
She is survived by her sister Nina and her brother Marcus.