Pat Cullen is the woman at the head one of the UK’s biggest healthcare workers’ strike actions, the current General Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing.
Originally from Carrickmore, Co Tyrone, Pat has been at the forefront of efforts from nurses and other health workers to fight for better pay this winter.
Workers from across the UK took to the picket line on Thursday in what has been described as the largest nursing strike in the history of the NHS.
READ MORE: Fears for 'fragile health service' as RCN nursing strike begins across Northern Ireland
Cullen has appeared on national television in recent days ahead of the strike, as the RCN demands a 19% pay rise for its workers.
Growing up in Carrickmore, Cullen started her career in mental health nursing and remains a qualified psychotherapist to this day.
She went on to work as a community nurse in West Belfast during the Troubles, and became Assistant Director of Mental Health Services and Professional Head of Nursing in a local healthcare trust before joining the Department of Health as Nursing Officer in 2001.
During this time she was involved in the development of the commissioning of the first Medium Secure Unit in Northern Ireland and the first Department of Health standards for clinical supervision in mental health nursing.
Cullen went on to hold roles in the Public Health Agency and the Health and Social Care Board, before joining the RCN in 2016.
She was appointed as acting General Secretary & Chief Executive of the organisation in April 2021, before taking up the role permanently in July of the same year.
In a tweet on Thursday ahead of the beginning of the historic strike, the RCN boss said she had the utmost respect for nurses taking to the picket line.
“As I prepare to join many picket lines today, to all our nursing staff - I have utmost respect for you.
“Your courage to stand up and be heard for your patients will not be ignored. Shame on this government for leaving you out in the cold.”
Speaking to the BBC ahead of Thursday’s strike, Cullen said it was a ‘tragic’ day for nursing.
She said: "We need to stand up for our health service, we need to find a way of addressing those over seven million people that are sitting on waiting lists, and how are we going to do that?
“By making sure we have got the nurses to look after our patients, not with 50,000 vacant posts, and with it increasing day by day.”
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