Alison Morton, CEO
Alison Morton joined the Institute as Director of Policy and Quality in 2019 to strengthen its work in Policy, delivering ‘Health Visiting in England: A Vision for the Future’ – iHV’s evidence-based blueprint to rebuild health visiting services. Alison transitioned to become Acting Executive Director in January 2021 and was appointed as the CEO in April 2021.
After training as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital in London, Alison worked for less than a year at the Evelina Children’s hospital before following her dream to become a health visitor. Following completion of the 3-year Community Nursing degree programme at King’s College London, she graduated with a combined qualification in health visiting and district nursing in 1993. These were formative years that lay the strong foundation that drives Alison to challenge inequalities and use the evidence to make the difference. Alison’s contribution to health visiting was recognised through her award as one of the first five Fellows of the iHV in 2014.
Alison has an extensive background in health visiting, having held senior roles across national policy, 0-19 public health operational delivery and quality improvement, alongside teaching and research. In her previous roles, Alison worked as a Professional Advisor for Health Visiting in the Chief Nursing Directorate at the Department of Health from 2014 and then as the Best Start in Life Programme Manager at Public Health England (PHE). At PHE, Alison managed several national programmes of work for children aged 0 – 5 years, including developing a cross-government partnership as part of the Social Mobility Action Plan to reduce inequalities in early language and leading the first PHE Taxpayer Best Value Review of the Family Nurse Partnership national unit.
Alison previously worked as the Head of Nursing in Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and as an NIHR Clinical Academic at the University of Southampton. Her research was focused on implementation science in health visiting, and her quality and practice development roles centred on co-production and quality improvement methods. Alison is also an honorary lecturer at the Institute of Child Health at UCL and her work has been recognised through numerous national awards.
Alison’s overriding ambition throughout her career has always been to ensure that every child truly does have the best start in life.
Contact Alison – [email protected]
