​Her Majesty, The Queen, has announced as part of her birthday honours list that the Chief Executive of Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, Cara Charles-Barks, will be honoured with a MBE.

The MBE has been bestowed on Mrs. Charles-Barks as she showed exceptional and inspirational leadership during the 2018 nerve agent attacks.

The previous Pride of Wiltshire Award winning executive led the Trust with distinction through the Novichok crisis: her guidance enabled the Trust to provide world-class care to patients, which demonstrated the skill of the NHS and earned admiration throughout the country and around the world.

Cara Charles-Barks said in response:

‘This is a great honour. I feel that this is recognition of the work of all the staff at Salisbury District Hospital. Each of our staff played a part in keeping the hospital open and running smoothly through the first nerve agent attack on European soil since World War II and the longest running major incident in the NHS’s 70 year history. Hospital staff did what they do each day; they gave outstanding care to our community. I am humbled by their commitment and care for people in Salisbury and I am delighted to accept this honour.’

Mrs. Charles-Barks began her career in 1990 as a registered nurse in Australia, variously working there and in the UK, before becoming Chief Executive of the Salisbury NHS Foundation in 2017. In March this year she was named as one of the NHS’s top 50 Chief Executives.