The RCN has a membership of over 400,000 nurses, midwives, health visitors, nursing students, cadets and health care assistants.

Before assuming the post of RCN General Secretary in January 2007 Dr Carter spent almost twelve years as the Chief Executive of the Central and North West London Mental Health NHS Trust, one of the largest mental health trusts in the UK with an operating budget of over £200 million and an international reputation.

Dr Carter is a graduate, and a member, of the Chartered Institute of Personnel. He also has a Masters Degree in Business Administration and a PhD – both from the University of Birmingham.

He was awarded the OBE for services to the NHS in the 2006 New Year’s Honours. He is a visiting professor at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery at King’s College London and Anglia Ruskin University.