Former chief nursing officer, Sarah Elisabeth Mullally, made a career change from nurse leader to reverend in 2001 and is now set to become the new bishop of London.
The Queen has approved the nomination of Reverend Mullally for election as bishop of London in succession to Reverend Richard John Carew Chartres on his resignation on the 28 February 2018.
Reverend Mullally, the current bishop of Crediton, will be the 133rd bishop of London and the first woman to be given the position.
Reverend Chartres, who is opposed to the ordination of female priests, declined to ordain priests of either gender to avoid controversy. In 2015 Reverend Mullally became the first female bishop to lead an ordination service when she ordained four clergy, three of whom were women.
Before becoming a priest, Reverend Mullally worked as a nurse in NHS hospitals, including St Thomas’s and the Royal Marsden, and became chief nursing officer at the Department of Health in 1999. She was ordained as a priest in 2001. In 2005, she was made a dame in recognition of her services to nursing and midwifery.
The reverend continued her interest in the health service as a non-executive director at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury NHS Foundation Hospital. She is currently a member of Council at King’s College London University.
Picture credit: Diocese of Exeter
