Pat Cullen will remain as chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) until the end of 2024.
Ms Cullen has held the top role since April 2021, first in an acting capacity and then interim, following the departure of Dame Donna Kinnair.
Her interim contract has already been extended once, and now Ms Cullen has announced that she will continue in the role until the end of 2024.
In a blog post on the RCN website, Ms Cullen said: “I’m very proud and fortunate to say that I’ve accepted an offer to stay on as RCN general secretary and chief executive until the end of 2024. This is an extension of my current contract, which was due to end this December.
“It’s been an incredibly busy and professionally challenging couple of years, leading historic strike action and navigating internal issues related to our culture and governance. But it’s also been exhilarating and humbling to serve you, our members.”
She added that recruitment would begin for a permanent general secretary and chief executive for the RCN next year.
Before stepping up into the top national role, Ms Cullen was the director of RCN Northern Ireland.
In her blog post, Ms Cullen also gave what is believed to be the RCN’s first public response to the Lucy Letby case.
Letby was jailed for life last week for the murder of seven babies, and attempted murder of six others, while working as a neonatal nurse at Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016.
The government has announced that an inquiry will take place to investigate how her crimes were able to happen and how concerns raised by clinicians about Letby were dealt with.
Ms Cullen said: “Like all of you, I have been shocked and deeply saddened by the Lucy Letby case and hearing the harrowing reports of what happened.
“The families have suffered unbelievable losses because of this person’s actions and the failure of the system to pick up and act on it sooner.
“Our profession, everybody in health care and those associated with it will learn the very grave lessons this case teaches us.
“With our legal teams, we will stay abreast of developments and participate in any way required at the inquiry that results from it.”
