Rebecca Cooke

Rebecca Cooke is an experienced Registered Paediatric Nurse with a BSc in Paediatric Nursing and an MSc in Safeguarding. Over a 30-year career across NHS acute and community services, Integrated Care Boards, and the charity sector, she has worked to improve care quality and reduce inequalities.

She has led a range of innovative programmes, including co-designing a haemoglobinopathy transition service for young people, creating a 10-week student nurse safeguarding placement, and developing a Serious Violence Duty pathway linking Emergency Departments to social care and diversion services. Rebecca also spearheaded the design of a cross-sector Transitional Safeguarding Strategy, uniting statutory and third sector partners to strengthen protection for young people moving into adulthood.

Recognised for her ability to connect professionals with people who bring lived experience, Rebecca champions inclusion and co-production in shaping and improving healthcare services. She is an accomplished national and international presenter on transition and safeguarding supervision, and co-author of the safeguarding chapter in A Textbook of Children’s and Young People’s Nursing (2021) and Oxford Handbook of Children’s and Young People’s Nursing (2015).

In her current strategic and operational role, Rebecca safeguards people across the life course with a particular focus on transition, learning disabilities and autism, care leavers, safeguarding supervision, the Serious Violence Duty, and workforce development. Beyond her professional role, she volunteers as Coordinator and Chair for Rainbow Street Watch with the police, and serves as a Trustee for the Dog, Duck & Cat Charity.