International Women's Day: Celebrating Clinical Leader Jo Macleod | News

Today we are celebrating another incredible leader in our Trust, Jo Macleod.

Jo is the Clinical Director of Paediatrics and made history as the first nurse at Royal Surrey to be appointed as both a Consultant and a Clinical Director.

However, Jo’s career almost took a very different path.

“When I was at college I wanted to be a paramedic, but back then there was not a degree course available and I had achieved good A Levels,” she said.

“Nursing turned out to be the closest alternative.”

Through determination, skill and unwavering commitment to babies and families, Jo has worked her way up from neonatal nurse to a respected clinical leader.

She said: “When I was at university, I was lucky to be taught by a Head of Nursing whose calm, confident leadership stayed with me.

“She never needed to raise her voice, yet she always made herself heard. It taught me that great leadership motivates through respect, not volume.”

Jo was well positioned to move into the Clinical Director role, having been appointed as the Trust’s first Nurse Consultant in Neonatal Care. In this role, she works at the highest clinical level, managing complex cases, leading education and driving meaningful change.

One of her innovations has even inspired national improvement. After noticing an increase in full‑term babies being admitted to the Special Care Baby Unit with low temperatures, Jo and a midwifery colleague introduced a simple but transformative idea: giving every newborn a bobble hat to help keep them warm. This small intervention led to a significant reduction in admissions and has since been adopted by hospitals across the country.

Jo also led the development of the Trust’s Neonatal Outreach Service, which provides families of premature babies with additional support once they are discharged from hospital. This later expanded to allow babies to receive home phototherapy and IV antibiotics at home, reducing length of stay and helping to keep families together.

Alongside her clinical work, Jo plays an active role in local and regional maternity and neonatal safety forums, always looking at the wider picture and championing improvements that extend beyond our own Trust.

Now six months into her role as Clinical Director, Jo continues to lead with compassion, clarity and a deep commitment to delivering safer, better care for families.

  She is driving improvements to strengthen the Paediatric Emergency Department and is working closely with teams at Ashford and St Peter’s through the group model to explore how we can further support and enhance our services.

  Jo said: “My first priority in this role has been to listen, learn and understand how colleagues work so we can keep improving the care we provide.

“International Women’s Day is an important moment to recognise the women across our organisation whose leadership, compassion and dedication make that progress possible.”

This International Women’s Day, we are highlighting the stories of three outstanding women who are leading the way in clinical care. Read more about Georgie Blanco and Jo Macleod by clicking on their names.