A WOMAN who has been at the forefront of the battle against Covid has received an MBE.

Catherine Pelley, who went to school in Kendal, was honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to nursing leadership.

Ms Pelley was educated at Kirkbie Kendal School, before embarking on her career in nursing at Hillingdon, Harefield and Mount Vernon School of Nursing.

Part of her three-year course, leading to the qualification of registered general nurse, was spent at Harefield Hospital where she cared for patients of the world famous heart surgeon, Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, and was greatly influenced by his dedication and patient care.

After qualifying, she became a ward sister at Hillingdon and embarked on a further course of study at Brunel University, eventually gaining both a bachelor's degree in community health nursing and a master's in health care management.

The mum of three then participated in a King's Fund leadership programme and also qualified as a registered health visitor, and managed community nurses, before another move into health care commissioning.

Ms Pelley was then promoted to become deputy director of nursing of a mental health trust, where she was also awarded the Queen’s Nurse award before a further spell seconded to NHS England, where she authored a leadership handbook for ward sisters and managers.

The daughter of Mike and the late Ann McVeigh of Milnthorpe then took up the post which she holds to this day, as chief nurse and director of governance at the Homerton in Hackney, where she has been at the forefront of the battle against Covid 19 and the  vaccination campaign.