Baroness Watkins says she has ‘influence not power’, but that influence makes a difference. One of only five nurse peers in the House of Lords, she is using her public profile and contact with government ministers to shape health and social care policy

Mary Watkins’ appointment to the House of Lords in 2015 did not come out of the blue and nor, she emphasises, did she simply wake up one day and decide she wanted to be a life peer. She had been urged to apply by a network of senior nurses who were determined to increase the profession’s representation in parliament.