Mary Watkins, Baroness Watkins of Tavistock sits as a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords and contributes regularly to the domains of health, education, and housing. She was appointed as a Deputy Speaker in 2020.

Qualifying as a general nurse in 1976 and a mental health nurse in 1979, Mary worked in community, in-patient mental health, and acute settings, providing non-emergency and emergency healthcare.

Mary is a Visiting Professor in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, King’s College London, the President of the Florence Nightingale Foundation and is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Plymouth University. Mary also holds an Emeritus Chair in Healthcare Leadership at Plymouth University and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing.

In 2020, as an Alternate Chair of Nursing Now, a global initiative to raise the profile of Nursing, Mary co-chaired the WHO Review of the State of the World’s Nursing. She then went on more recently, to Chair the HEE Mental Health Nursing Workforce Review and the National Wound Care Strategy Programme (NHS England).

Mary is Chair of Look Ahead Care, Support and Housing – a housing provider supporting people across London and the Southeast with a diverse range of needs; by providing tailor-made support, care, and accommodation services.