Hughes, Dr Frances
- Jocelyn Peach
- Jul 2, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 6
RN, BA, MA, DNurs PhD, Col (ret), JP, CNZM, FANZCMHN, FNZCMHN
Director of Global Strategic Initiatives at Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) International.
Dr Frances Hughes is registered as general and mental health nurse since 1976. She has had 30 years of experience in the New Zealand health service working as a health clinician, manager and educator. Frances is a member of many national and international nursing groups and has held many national positions within New Zealand. Frances has been described as “one of the most influential nurse leaders in the world.
In addition to her nursing qualifications, Frances commenced post graduate education in at Massey University, completing a Bachelor’s degree in Arts and Social Sciences in 1987; achieving a Masters from Victoria University of Wellington in 1997 with a thesis on aggression in psychiatric wards. She achieved a Doctor of Nursing Practice at the University of Technology Sydney in 2003, with a thesis titled Policy, politics and nursing: a case study of policy formation in New Zealand.
Frances has played a major role in leadership in Nursing in New Zealand, health care and nursing policy; influential in the development of government policy in her role as Chief Nurse for New Zealand from 1998 to 2004. She was instrumental in developing government policy around psychosocial emergency response, nurse prescribing, Ministry of Health primary health care & rural scholarship schemes, nursing workforce, nurse practitioners, health lines and rural schemes and mental health. Frances where she also held the position as the Commandant-Colonel of the Royal New Zealand Army Nursing Corps for seven years.
Frances also has been influential in the development of Mental Health Nursing both professionally, clinically and educationally over the past two decades. This includes being instrumental in the establishment of a separate professional body of mental health nurses, design and development of both the nationally funded new graduate and advanced mental health nursing programs. Frances has been involved in international research in areas such as costing nursing turnover, primary mental health. She was on the International Advisory Group for the ANCC for several years.
In 2001, Frances was awarded the Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy from Commonwealth Fund in New York. This Fellowship allowed her to study US Health policy, her mentor was Dr Linda Aiken from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. Frances was in New Year at the time of the Twin Towers attack.
From 2005 to 2011, Frances completed the first situational analysis of the status of mental health in 16 Pacific countries for the World Health Organisation (WHO), followed by working as the first WHO facilitator for the Pacific Island Mental Health Network. Frances worked for WHO as facilitator for the Pacific Island Mental Health Network and worked with sixteen Pacific Island governments, supporting them to develop policies and plans to improve mental health, supporting them to develop public policies and plans to improve mental health of their populations. She was the first nurse to be appointed to the WHO expert panel on mental health, serving a four-year term.
In 2005 she was recognised as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit [NZOM] for her services to mental health.
She published her first book in 2007, Have Your Say: Influencing public policy in New Zealand, designed to help health professionals and the wider public to understand how to engage in public policy.
Frances was busy through this time: appointed from 2009 to 2012 as the Director of CareerForce, a community support services industry training organisation. She was clinical advisor to the New Zealand correctional services clinical governance board from 2010 to 2015. After the Christchurch Earthquakes, Dr Hughes partnered with the New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses to provide psychological support to those affected. In 2013, Frances was awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award from Massey. In 2013 was also awarded a Senior Fulbright Scholar to study psychosocial emergency response for hospitals prone to natural disasters. The Convenient Care Association of USA honoured her with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. The same year Dr Hughes co-foundered ToKnowMe -technology which is used to assist person centred care at the beside. Frances established a successful consultancy company in which her and her team undertook both national and international service and policy evaluation work. Frances has held many government positions in New Zealand the last being as Acting Deputy Director of Mental Health. Frances has been commissioned by governments, WHO and NGOs for work in relation to Nursing, Policy and Mental Health in Australia, South Pacific, UK, Canada and Asia. Frances has been technical consultant for WHO in particular the area of psychosocial emergency response guidelines for Nurses with Dr Margaret Grigg. Frances is known for her innovative style and strategic approaches to health care. Frances held the first Professor of Nursing and the Director of the Centre for Mental Health Policy, Research and Service Development at the University of Auckland. She has worked for NGOs in disability, service evaluation, and mental health through her consultancy. She held a part-time position as executive officer in a national disability group and established an NGO providing community residential support to those with complex mental illnesses. She has served on several domestic and international boards.
From 2016 to 2018, Dr Frances Hughes was the chief nursing and midwifery officer for Queensland Health. She succeeded in advancing the role of nursing and midwifery through her strong policy and research approach, which resulted in the 2015 incoming government allocating $500m to nursing and midwifery.
Dr Hughes was the CEO of the International Council of Nurses in Geneva from 2016 to 2018, during which time she strengthened the organisation's financial state. She is a Board member of One Family Health, which provides primary care clinics in Rwanda. Locally Dr Hughes established and chaired the Kapiti Community Enterprise Trust.
In October 2019 Dr Hughes was appointed as Oceania Healthcare’s Group General Manager Nursing and Clinical Risk to transform systems, policies, and innovations related to care for those most vulnerable. In 2020, Dr Hughes was awarded with Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) 2020.
Dr Frances Hughes CNZM was selected as National’s candidate for Mana in the 2023 General Election. She currently works as Director of Global Strategic Initiatives at Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) International, University of Pennsylvania. Her partners include CHOPR Senior Fellow, Dr Franklin A. Schaffer, President and CEO of CGFNS International, an immigration neutral nonprofit organization that helps foreign-educated health care professionals live and work in their country of choice.
Frances has been recognised for her scholarship and research through gaining the award of being one of the authors of one of the Top 10 cited papers (2006-2008) published in International Journal of Nursing Studies. Dr Hughes has an extensive publication record and has received several awards for her work. Frances has published widely in referred journal on areas of nursing turnover & workforce, primary mental health, policy, nursing leadership & psychosocial emergency response. Frances is on the editorial board of 4 international mental health and nursing journals. Frances holds three directorships for New Zealand companies.
August 2024
Link
Hughes, Frances., Calder, Stephanie. (2007). Have Your Say: Influencing Public Policy in New Zealand. Dunmore Publishing Limited, ISBN 1877339253, 9781877339257
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