Jo qualified in 1985 with a degree in Nursing from the University of the Southbank, London. She has worked in a variety of clinical settings since then, her main clinical experience being in Accident and Emergency, Community Hospitals and Care of Older People. Her first opportunity to become involved with practice development was in 2001 when she took part in the Gerontological Nurse Development Programme, which was facilitated by the RCN. She then went on to study for a master degree in practice development at the University of Bournemouth. Since then Jo has used the tools and techniques she was introduced to, to structure and change practice with the main emphasis on introducing opportunities for reflection such as clinical supervision and action learning, working with nurses in older persons care and exploring creative approaches to understand and change practice. Jo has also had a variety of roles in either a learning and development, quality or corporate team leading on practice development initiatives.

Jo was appointed as a Practice Development Facilitator at FoNS in September 2011 and is the lead facilitator for the Inspire Improvement Programme, where her main role is to facilitate and provide workplace support for the teams involved, with their practice development initiatives. Further information about the Inspire Improvement Programme can be found at https://www.fons.org/programmes/inspire-improvement