Cheryl Etches OBE
Chair of Quality and Safety Committee

Cheryl was a nurse in the NHS for 38 years. Having trained in Nottingham, she specialised as an Emergency Department nurse, spending five years in Saudi Arabia. Cheryl was awarded an OBE for services to nursing in 2012 and received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Wolverhampton in 2013.

Later in her career she served as Director of Nursing and Chief Nurse for 13 years at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, and Deputy Chief Executive.

Working closely with the Infection Prevention team at the Trust, Cheryl helped to make significant improvements for patients, resulting in the Trust gaining national and international recognition for its standards and innovations in infection prevention.

While at the Trust, Cheryl was at the forefront of innovation, with projects such as dementia care, Care of the Dying Project and the Safe Hands Patient and Staff Tracking system.

She retired in 2019 and, in 2020, returned to support the Trust in an infection prevention role during COVID-19. Cheryl remained with the Trust for over two years before finally retiring for the second time in November 2022.