Meet the team

I’m Sara James, Chief Operating Officer for Thornbury Nursing Services. With over two decades of experience in the healthcare industry, I am dedicated to ensuring the seamless functioning of our operations and the achievement of our strategic objectives. Alongside maintaining operational excellence, I am committed to fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration throughout the organisation.

I am driven by a deep passion for delivering exceptional service quality and supporting healthcare professionals. My journey began in 1999 when I joined Thornbury as Operations Manager. The following year I became Managing Director. With a background as a Registered Nurse in both the UK and the USA, my career was centred around cardiac and general ICU, as well as hospital management.

I’m Pam Selfe and I’m the Training and Compliance Director for Thornbury Nursing. I’ve been here since 1990, and before that I was a staff nurse in Bristol’s Oncology Centre. I’ve been involved in many aspects of the company, starting as a placement coordinator, and moving into database management and compliance. That’s where my expertise lies. My team help our agency workers maintain their compliance, which in turn enables us to provide our clients with outstanding healthcare workers.

Over the years I’ve seen the company grow from a small family-run business into one of the leading agencies in the country. People have been at the heart of the business from the beginning, and they still are.

I’m Rachel and I’ve been with Thornbury Nursing since 2001. I came for a short period while I considered what I wanted to do next with my nursing career. I was working a lot of nights and unable to move into a community role in my unit because of short staffing on my ward. It’s the best move I have ever made – I’ve never looked back! I started as a placement coordinator, worked my way up to Director of Operations, and have now spent over two years in the role of Director of Resourcing and Recruitment.

My role is forever changing, which keeps things very varied and interesting. I work with a great bunch of people, both internally and those who represent us working for the agency. I find it very rewarding knowing we are providing experienced and high-quality staff to clinical areas that may otherwise have to go without.

I’m Mairi Carling, Community Operations Director at Thornbury Nursing Services. I am a dual-qualified nurse in adult and paediatric nursing and specialised in paediatric intensive care for the most part of my nursing career. I began working with the business as a field nurse in 2001, working with both adults and children in various specialities, before taking on a community office role. I started my career as Senior Case Manager in 2013, then became a director in 2021 overseeing all of our community businesses at Thornbury. I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of our growing community division.

Our work is diverse. We provide care for people of all ages and conditions, no matter how complex their needs are, and it is extremely rewarding as we make a real difference to people’s lives. Our teams are dedicated to providing our clients with a quality, professional, reliable and compassionate service so they can remain at home or in the community.

I’m Andrew Davies, Technology and Digital Products Director for Thornbury Nursing Services. I joined in 2005 as a Duty Desk Coordinator. In the subsequent years, I moved through various supervisory and managerial roles, including three years managing our community care business. In 2013, I took a sideways move into Data Analytics and Technology. In 2018, I took lead of our Technology Strategy and built a new Digital Products Team. My role has changed dramatically over two decades however I greatly value the experience of my early years as it gave me a solid understanding of the market we serve as well as some great memories of our candidates and clients.

I manage a team who are responsible for improving our current tech platforms through designing and building applications to better support our nurses, clients, and internal staff.

I’m Kate Nicholson-Florence, Quality Assurance Director for Thornbury Nursing Services. I started my career as a qualified paediatric nurse in 1998 and have experience in both the acute and community sector. I have been with the company since 2009, specifically working in a quality and governance role since 2021. I have overall responsibility for our Quality Assurance across the UK, ensuring we provide the highest quality agency workers to support clients in both hospital and community settings.

I’m Naomi Newport, Commercial Director for Thornbury Nursing Services. I have worked for the business since 2016. I oversee our commercial teams, building relationships with new clients and improving the relationships we have with existing clients, helping us to deliver the best possible service to the healthcare sector across the UK and Ireland.

I have over 20 years’ sales management, recruitment and operations experience from many different sectors, including telecoms and NGOs. Thornbury Nursing offers clients and nurses a unique service, and it is something I am very proud to be part of.

I’m James, the Operations Director for Thornbury Nursing Services. I have been with Thornbury Nursing Services since 2017, having previously been involved with managing staff banks for large NHS trusts in central London. When I joined Thornbury, I managed our community staffing business until 2020.

I am now responsible for our national staffing services across all settings, throughout England and Wales. Since 2018, I have also been the CQC (Care Quality Commission) Registered Manager for Thornbury Nursing and work with a great group of people who are passionate about constantly improving our service.

I’m Tarah, Consultancy Business Manager. I began my nurse training at Bournemouth University after completing my A-Levels in 2006, receiving an advanced diploma with distinction in Adult Nursing in 2009. I then went on to work as Junior Sister in cardiology and Senior Sister in respiratory medicine.

I have also had roles in patient safety, serious incident investigation and risk management within the acute hospital sector, before joining the CQC as an inspector. I now work for Thornbury Nursing managing their Consultancy Service, supporting clients to improve the services they offer and achieve optimum inspection scores.

I’m Melissa and I’m Business Manager for Thornbury Nursing’s Bristol operation. Before joining Thornbury, I worked in hospitals, nursing homes and community settings and also worked for Thornbury as an agency HCA prior to joining the office team. I have worked in the healthcare industry since 2009.

I’m Gerwyn, Country Manager for Wales. I joined the business in 2014 as Talent Acquisition Partner and have had various roles since, such as Operations Manager for our COVID Testing Operation during the pandemic, then moving to National Sales Manager for two years, and more recently as Country Manager for Wales overseeing our Cardiff office.

My role is to oversee the day-to-day operations of our Welsh business and lead our team in Cardiff ensuring we are efficient, effective and delivering for our clients and agency workers in Wales.

I’m Neil and I’m the Business Manager for Thornbury Nursing’s Leeds operation, Mental Health and Specialist Staffing. I originally joined Thornbury’s sister company the Scottish Nursing Guild back in 2021, working as a Placement Coordinator and moved into a role as Niche Resourcer.

In February 2023, I was offered the Leeds Branch Manager role and in July 2023 I was promoted to Business Manager, taking on responsibility for managing the Mental Health and Niche Business.

I’m Becky and I am the Community Business Manager at Thornbury Nursing. Before joining Thornbury, I worked as part of the Operational Management Team for a local out-of-hours GP service, including the quality management of the service.

I now manage the Community Team and oversee the day-to-day running of both our complex needs care packages and learning disability/mental health packages. My team includes a mixture of operational non-clinical coordinators and community clinical leads.

I’m Lewis and I’m the Recruitment Operations Manager. I have worked for Thornbury since 2014 and joined the business with no prior experience in the industry. I started as a Recruitment Coordinator and progressed over the years to Senior Recruitment Coordinator, Recruitment Team Leader and most recently Recruitment Operations Manager.

When I started working here, my role was focused on managing new applications and onboarding each skilled worker as quickly as possible. Now my role is to support and lead my team in performing that function. Most importantly it’s my job to make sure the whole team is recruiting only the most experienced and skilled workers to support our clients.