Nursing career
He entered general nurse training at Selly Oak Hospital Birmingham at 18 years and successively held posts of Charge Nurse, Selly Oak Hospital Birmingham,
District Nurse,City of Birmingham Public Health Department & lecturer in Health Education, City of Birmingham Education Department.
Assistant Matron in charge Sheldon Hospital Rednal
Midlands Area Officer of the Royal College of Nursing,
Principal of the William Rathbone Staff College Liverpool.
Chief Nursing Officer Central Wirral Hospital Management Committee (9 hosptials & head of Nursing Training School)
Chief Nursing Officer Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (Teaching) Health Authority ( 17 hospitals and the community nursing services in the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne & Head of lagest Nurse Training School in the UK))
During that time he was also a pastoral elder of the Assemblies of God Church Bethshan in the city.In the 1970's he became chairman of two important working parties at the department of health. In 1975 he chaired a working party of the Education and Training of SRN/RGN in District Nursing and later chaired another group on the Education and Training of the Enrolled Nurse in the Community. Action on the former report resulted in district nurse training being moved to colleges of further and higher education and paved the way for the present degree in district nursing. For this work he was honoured by the Royal College of Nursing by the award of Fellowship of the College.*
He was one of four members of a committee (Cumberledge) set up by the Secretary of State for Health in 1985 to review the Community Nursing Services in England. The subsequent report Neighbourhood Nursing had a great impact upon the management of the community nursing services.
Rev. Dr. Anthony J. Carr
Tony Carr also was either appointed or elected to the following professional organisations bodies or government bodies.
- Director & Chairman of Board of Management Gilgal Community Project
- Member RCN Council for 16 years (various periods)
- Chairman of Council, Institute of Health Education
- President District Nursing Association & A vice-president
- President Practical Work Teachers Association
- Founder Chairman of Regional, Area & District Nursing Officers Group of the RCN
- Elected Member English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting
- Appointed Member UKCC Joint Committee on District Nursing
- Department of Health Nominee Panel of Assessors for District Nursing & Deputy Chairman of its Education Committee
- Member Council of the Queen's Nursing Institute
Management Consultancy
At 52 years, through illness, he retired from the NHS and became a management consultant under the name AJC Consultants. Among his clients were Cow & Gate and the Royal College of Midwives. He still kept in contact with the NHS becoming a non-executive director of Solihull primary Care NHS Trust in 1997 and vice chairman of the Trust in 1998 until 2003. At present he is a Hospital Manager under the Mental Health Act reviewing patients detained under that act.
Fellowship Citation Of the Royal College of Nursing
Introduction
Anthony Carr was chairman of a working party that considered a radical new educational and training approach to District Nursing. The Report was titled, "The Training and Education of the District Nurse SRN/RGN.
The Report was published in 1978 and following extensive Department of Health discussions with health authorities throughout the United Kingdom, its recommendations were put into action in the 1980. Essentially the education component was transfered from undergraduate schools of nurising to colleges of higher education and universities. For this work and other acheivements the Royal College of Nursing awarded him a Fellowship.
The Fellowship is a rare onour with 151 nurses os honoured out of a membership of approximately 350,000 (2006).
The citation reads:
Citation of the Royal College of Nursing
12th September 1984
ANTHONY JOHN CARR Elected afellow of theROYAL COLLEGE OF NURSING
Anthony Carr's contribution to the advancement of the art and science of nursing has been a personal and unique one, especially within the context of primary health care, where his achievements can be particularly seen in the education and training of District Nurses. He has had a leading hand in shaping the present structure of this service and enabling its practitioners to be competent to practice independently, frequently in circumstances where they are isolated from the support of nursing colleagues.
Following qualification as a nurse in 1954, Anthony Carr obtained the National District Nursing Certificate and became a Queen's Nurse, both in 1960. Throughout his professional nursing career, he has championed the principle that nurses should be properly prepared for the specific work they are expected to undertake. He put this belief into action during his tenure, from 1967 to 1969, as Principal of the William Rathbone Staff College in Liverpool. Here his pioneering work in facilitating the creation of a management training programme for nurses working in the community services came just at a time when major changes were being introduced into the structure of nursing management.
Anthony Carr's commitment to nursing education was amply demonstrated in his skilful chairmanship of the Working Party on the Education and Training of District Nurses in 1976, and the Working Party on the Education and Training in District Nursing for the State Enrolled Nurse in 1980. This work culminated in the production of a new model curriculum based upon the nursing process, together with a teaching programme designed to prepare staff for an extending role capable of meeting the present and future challenges of primary health care. Following this achievement, he served as a member of the Panel of Assessors for District Nurse Training from 1979 to 1983, and as Deputy Chairman of its Education Committee. He was elected a member of the District Nursing Joint Committee of the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, and also a member of the English National Board in 1983.
Anthony Carr has long been active in College life, serving several terms as a Council member and acting as Founder Chairman of the RCN's Regional, Area and District Nursing Officers Group from 1977 to 1981. Since 1972, he has been Area Nursing Officer, and now Chief Nursing Officer, of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Health Authority. Throughout this time, and in addition to the demands of his very senior role in nursing management, he has always been prepared to participate in and contribute to activities related to the development of primary health care in its widest context. He has great wisdom and experience of this subject, and his gifts as a fluent and persuasive public speaker, as well as his manifold contributions to the nursing literature, have demonstrated his skills at communicating with the profession at all levels. Primary care, and in particular district nursing, as we now know them would not have been the same if it were not for Anthony Carr's vision and industry in carrying through his beliefs.
The Council, therefore has great pleasure in conferring on Anthony John Carr, Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing.
Signed:
President: Dame Sheila Quinn Chairman of Council: Ian Hargreves